Gbolahan Obisesan News

Utopia Theatre has announced the full programme for its Creative Hub. Over 40 African Theatre professionals will be offering free online workshops and masterclasses to people of African origin aged 16 and above. The programme will feature a variety of performances that will be streamed live from Monday 29 June to December 2020.

Today is the last day to watch a special digital reading of Katori Hall's Olivier Award-winning play, The Mountaintop, featuring actors Gbolahan Obisesan and Ronka?? Adékolua??jo.

The Mountaintop will be performed virtually on Wednesday, 10 June, at 7:30pm. The play is being performed to raise funds for legal costs of protestors incarcerated across the world.

An Open Letter has been written to Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Culture, from black, Asian, and ethnically diverse theatre artistic directors and cultural leaders. The letter was written to emphasize the importance  of protecting representation in the sector.

Ovalhouse has announced its new Artistic Director, Gbolahan Obisesan, will start in April 2020. Gbolahan will be leading the theatre into its new venue in Brixton, South London and succeeds Deborah Bestwick who steps down after 20 years at the helm.

Young Vic Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah today announces director Jennifer Tang as the next Genesis Fellow at the Young Vic.

Nearly 500 arts organisations, human rights charities, schools, colleges and universities came together in June to present events and activities across the UK; whilst international partners and individuals also flew Ai Weiwei's flag to mark the 70th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

When I was first approached by Giles Foden to adapt his 1998 novel for the stage, I was unsure how to respond. I'd seen Kevin MacDonald's fine movie version in 2006 and wondered what a theatrical version could add to it. So I went back to Giles's novel and found myself gripped by his account of Ugandan history and the complexity of Idi Amin Dada, its nightmarishly charismatic President from 1971 to 1979. Giles constructed Nicholas Garrigan, Amin's physician, out of a number of real prototypes, ranging from rogue diplomats to mercenaries. What gripped me from the outset was the core psychological drama exploring friendship, charisma and denial in the face of atrocity. 

New Perspectives' production arrives at The Marlowe Studio on Wednesday 16 October, straight from a run at Trafalgar Studios, London. 

The Young Vic Directors Program announces the launch of a new, improved Genesis Network website. The website has been updated and developed to better facilitate the community and peer-support at the heart of the Young Vic Directors Program, the only scheme of its kind, which has been running for nearly twenty years. The program currently serves nearly 1,000 directors, designers and producers living in the UK at the early stages of their career.

This adaptation of Giles Foden's novel takes us into the heart of Idi Amin's regime

BAFTA and Olivier award-winning playwright debbie tucker green's drama about relationships, power and sex tourism will tour for the first time in a new production from East Midlands theatre company New Perspectives. trade is set on a Caribbean island and tells the story of three women, each distinct from the others. As the sun beats down, the drinks are poured for tourists and men flitter in and out of the picture, their three very different stories emerge. On the surface, they have little in common: the youngest is visiting for the first time, another lives here permanently and the last woman is a regular visitor. But despite their apparent differences, it gradually becomes clear their lives are all shaped by the same thing: transactions.

After a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe and a sold-out run at the Arcola at the end of last year, Gbolahan Obisesan's adaptation of Chigozie Obioma's novel The Fishermen is now at the Trafalgar Studios.

The North Wall returns from Edinburgh Festival Fringe with two awards and a plethora of stars

Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, Robert Hastie, today announces the full cast for the world première of Giles Foden's The Last King of Scotland, adapted for the stage by Steve Waters; and for their major revival of Charlotte Keatley's My Mother Said I Never Should in a co-production with fingersmiths.

Alice Vilanculo has won a Stage Award for her performance as Bailey in E8, written by former PRU worker, Marika McKennell, and directed by double Fringe First Award-winner, Ria Parry. In it she plays a vulnerable schoolgirl who falls through the cracks of an underfunded education system; she was praised by The Stage's reviews editor for a a?oelayered portrayal of a volatile teenage girl.a?? E8 is produced by The North Wall in association with the Pleasance.

Producer Vineyard Entertainment (a sole proprietorship) presents a New York showcase of FEAST: A Yoruba Project with a cast and crew from across the African Diaspora at the Dorothy B. Williams Theater at HERE, July 11 through July 14, 2019. The show will preview July 11th and open July 12th with an opening reception hosted by Taste of Africa USA. Following the 7pm show on July 13th, audience is invited to a 'talkback' with cast and designers.

New Perspectives has announced new casting for the return of their award-winning production of Chigozie Obioma's Booker Prize-shortlisted novel The Fishermen, with David Alade joining the cast in the role of Ben alongside Valentine Olukoga who will reprise the role of Obembe. David Alade has previously played the lead role of Thomas in Stormzy's short film Gang Signs & Prayer directed by Rollo Jackson for the BRIT Award winner's debut album release. Most recently, David has written and performed in Foxhunting (Courtyard Theatre), a verbatim drama drawing on transcripts of interviews with South Londoners about their experiences of knife crime.

In a unique collaboration, a wide-ranging group of arts organisations and human rights charities commissioned Ai Weiwei to design a new flag in response to the real and present dangers of a world changing at break-neck speed and a community that has forgotten why human rights are so important, to offer hope and to educate generations to come about the absolute importance of universal human rights. Everyone across the country is invited to Fly The Flag for Human Rights between 24 and 30 June 2019 in events around the UK, with over 150 organisations involved.