World Premiere BLACK POWER DESK From Brixton House and Playwell Productions

Brixton House and Playwell Productions in association with Birmingham Hippodrome and Manchester’s Lowry present the World Premiere of Black Power Desk by critically-acclaimed playwright Urielle Klein-Mekongo (OLD VIC 12, ROUNDHOUSE, THE BUSH). This powerful and compelling new musical with an original score and a live band blending RnB, Reggae, Soul and Ska is Brixton House’s largest production to date.

The incredible creative team includes Director Gbolahan Obisesan (The Fisherman, TRAFALGAR STUDIOS, Olivier-nominated Cutting It, ROYAL COURT); Rapperturg and Lyricist Gerel Falconer (Black British Theatre Award Winner 2023); Ivor Novello Prize winner and Platinum-selling songwriter Renell Shaw (Othello, GLOBE; ) who collaborated on the music and composition and award-winning dramaturgist Gail Babb and Alfred Fagon Awards 2025 Black Champion of Theatre.

Set in 1970s London, at a time of political unrest and cultural transformation, Black Power Desk, inspired by the real-life events of the Mangrove Nine, shines a lyrical light on a rarely explored part of British history, providing audiences with a stirring portrait of the times alongside an epic and rich soundtrack of resistance.

The streets pulse with the rise of sound system culture and two sisters are caught between family bonds, community struggles, and the covert operations of the Black Power Desk, a secret police unit inside New Scotland Yard.

Black Power Desk sits within Brixton House's Uprising Festival, a season of work commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Brixton Uprising, sparked by the police shooting of Cherry Groce in 1985.