MILES. Transfers to London's Southwark Playhouse Borough Following Sell-Out Edinburgh Fringe Run
Performances run 4 February - 7 March 2026.
By: Stephi Wild Nov. 11, 2025
Delving into the creative chaos behind Kind of Blue, the best-selling jazz album of all time, MILES. is a dynamic two-hander blending live jazz and multi-rolling performance to explore the life and legacy of Miles Davis. Led by acclaimed trumpeter Jay Phelps (Wynton Marsalis, Shabaka Hutchings, Amy Winehouse, Wizkid) with Benjamin Akintuyosi, the duo embodies a shifting cast of characters-including Davis himself-as the production moves fluidly through time, memory, and influence. Inspired by Davis' autobiography, extensive research, and archival recordings, MILES. captures the sound, pressure, and innovation of an artist who redefined modern music. The result is a hypnotic, smoke-laced fever dream: an exploration of addiction, reinvention, and the explosive cost of genius. The London transfer follows an acclaimed sell-out run at Summerhall Arts at Edinburgh Fringe 2025.
Writer and director Oliver Kaderbhai said, "Bringing Miles' story to Southwark Playhouse Borough 100 years after his birth feels like the perfect place to explore the legacy of a complex man whose music transcends time, place and race whilst being rooted in all of those things. The Playhouse sits neatly between the beating heart of London's contemporary jazz scene in Peckham and the storied history of haunts like Ronnie Scotts in soho and the 606 in Chelsea. Miles's album, 'Kind of Blue' resonates with a contemporary audience as much, if not more than it did when it was released in 1959. He created something extraordinary in a time of deep civil division and personal turmoil, and, somehow, that felt hopeful to me."
Oliver Kaderbhai is a writer, director, producer, and the founder of theatre company :DELIRIUM:. Directing credits include MILES. (Edinburgh Fringe 2025), Clybourne Park (Park Theatre), Striking 12 (Union Theatre), Songs of Abdulkarim (59 Productions, Kuwait), One Minute (The Vaults), Peter Pan (co-directed, Chichester Festival Theatre), and Go To Your God Like A Soldier (Old Vic Tunnels). He has also worked as Associate, Resident or Assistant Director on major productions including Hamilton (UK tour), Jesus Christ Superstar and Running Wild (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre).
Jay Phelps is a London based trumpeter and DJ who has performed with some of the world's top artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Shabaka Hutchings, Amy Winehouse and Wizkid. With an instantly recognisable warm and projecting trumpet tone, Phelps is a household name on the international Jazz scene with worldwide streams exceeding 500k. Canadian born Phelps has had a career spanning over 20 years and his charismatic energy has lead him to radio presenting for Jazz FM and Worldwide FM, as well as creating the Youtube documentary series Ear to the Ground. Jay has also created SoulEndvr, his own music casting agency for TV, Film and advertising (featured on Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO and BBC). This summer Phelps released The Now, his seventh album as a leader with Apple Music subsidiary label Platoon. Jay made his acting debut at Edinburgh Fringe this year with the world premiere of MILES. at Summerhall Arts.
Southwark Playhouse is a registered charity that delivers a year-round programme of entertaining and enriching work. Southwark Playhouse operates two separate venues 'Southwark Playhouse Borough' and its newest theatre 'Southwark Playhouse Elephant' which opened in January 2023. Southwark Playhouse has always prided itself in telling stories and inspiring the next generation of storytellers and theatre makers, where support for the community has been rooted at the core of the organisation.
