Mustapha Matura News

Artificial Intelligence, erasure, coercion, faith, unrequited love and social housing amongst subjects explored within the five shortlisted plays announced as contenders for the 2024 George Devine Award. 

The JMK Trust today announces the eight shortlisted theatre directors, and the designers they partnered with, in the running for the 2024 JMK Award – Dipo Baruwa-Etti, Adam Karim, Zoe Murtagh, Josh Parr, Joanna Pidcock, Zoë Templeman-Young, Amelia Thornber and Sam Woof.

Rehearsals begin for 'Dreaming and Drowning' at Bush Theatre. A WoLab production in association with Bush Theatre. Written and Directed by Kwame Owusu. Performed by Tienne Simon.

In 2015, I happened to walk past a striking poster with an image of a African man in what appeared to be some kind of high ranking military garb with a glass of dark liquor in one hand and a cigar in the other. I recognised this man. It was the late great Seun Shote.

As The Statesman says, the late Mustapha Matura was “the most perceptive and humane of Black dramatists writing in Britain. His 1981 satire Meetings can be proof of that, first opening Off-Broadway and now making its first major 21st-century UK return to the Orange Tree Theatre. In his directorial debut, JMK Young Directors Award winner Kalungi Ssebandeke’s production proves why this classic remains hilarious as ever.

All new photos have been released for Meetings at Orange Tree Theatre, opening tonight 18 October and running until 11 November starring Martina Laird, Kevin N Golding and Bethan Mary-James. Check out the photos here!

Bush Theatre has announced productions for the first half of 2024. Learn more about the full season lineup and how to get tickets here!

Orange Tree Theatre has announced the full cast for Mustapha Matura's Meetings. Learn more about who is starring in the production here!

The Acting Company has announced the complete cast for the reading of Mustapha Matura's new play Three Sisters After Chekhov. This is a part of the Reading Series in honor of The Acting Company's 50th anniversary. 

The Orange Tree (OT) has announced its first full year of programming under new Artistic Director Tom Littler. It features world and European premieres by Zoe Cooper and Lucas Hnath; revivals from Mustapha Matura, Noël Coward and Oliver Goldsmith; directors including Trevor Nunn and Matthew Dunster; and Niamh Cusack headlining the first major London revival of Polly Stenham's breakout hit That Face.

Orange Tree Theatre presents JMK Award Winner Kalungi Ssebandeke's MEETINGS by Mustapha Matura, designed by Olivia Jamieson.

The JMK Trust today announces that Kalungi Ssebandeke wins this year's JMK Award with his production of Meetings by Mustapha Matura.

The Prince Fellowship, in association with Columbia University School of the Arts, announced that applications are now open for the 2023 Fellowship program.

The JMK Trust has announced the eight shortlisted theatre directors, and the designers they partnered with, in the running for the 2023 JMK Award.

The Acting Company has announced casting for their reading of Billy Strayhorn: Something to Live For, produced, by special arrangement with Steven Tabakin/Swee Pea LLC, as part of The Acting Company's annual Louanna O. Carlin & John MacDonald Reading Series. 

The Acting Company has announced the cast for their reading of The Misanthrope. Molière's classic play is translated by Neil Bartlett and directed by The Acting Company's Producing Director Devin Brain.

The Acting Company has announced the New York performances for their annual Louanna O. Carlin & John MacDonald Reading Series.

The JMK Trust announces the shortlisted directors, and the designers they are partnered with, for this year's JMK Award – Emily Aboud, Joanna Bowman, Emerald Crankson, Leo Doulton, Dale Edwards, Masha Kevinovna, Indiana Lown-Collins and Elsie Yager.

It's been over a century since John Millington Synge's Irish play The Playboy of the Western World was first performed, and almost 40 years since Mustapha Matura transported the story to Trinidad in the original version of Playboy of the West Indies. Sadly, Matura passed away in 2019 before he finished the musical adaptation of his work, but collaborators and co-directors Clement Ishmael, Nicolas Kent and Dominique Le Gendre continued the project and have now brought the spirit and humour of the Caribbean to a Birmingham stage.

Birmingham Rep, the city's only major producing theatre, has released production shots of the world premiere musical, Playboy of the West Indies, presented by the Birmingham 2022 Festival.