Details

Chicago, 1927. In a recording studio on the city's South Side, a battle of wills is raging. Ma Rainey, Mother of the Blues, uses every trick in the book to fight her record producers for control of her music. Hardened by years of ill-treatment and bad deals, she's determined that 'Black Bottom', the song that bears her name, will be recorded her way. But Levee, the band's swaggering young trumpet player, plans to catapult the band into the jazz age. His ambition puts them all in danger.

Cast/Performers

Sharon D Clarke (Ma Rainey), O-T Fagbenle (Lee), Tunji Lucas (Sylvester), Lucian Msamati (Toledo), Giles Terera (Slow Drag), Teri Ann Bobb-Baxter (Understudy Dussie Mae), Ricardo Coke-Thomas (Understudy Toledo / Cutler), John Paul Connolly (Policeman), Clint Dyer (Cutler), Stephen Fawkes (Understudy Sturdyvant / Irvin), Tamara Lawrance (Dussie Mae), Finbar Lynch (Irvin), Stuart McQuarrie (Sturdyvant), Kadeem Pearse (Uunderstudy Sylvester / Slow Drag), Lucy Vandi (Understudy Ma Rainey)

Creatives/Company

Author: August Wilson
Producer: National Theatre
Director: Dominic Cooke
Design: Ultz
Lighting: Charles Balfour
Choreographer: Coral Messam
Sound: Paul Arditti
Music: Tim Sutton