Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph returns to Hampstead Theatre this autumn with the UK premiere of King James directed by Alice Hamilton. This remarkably moving new play about the friendship between two men thrown together by chance and their mutual passion for basketball and the great ‘King’ LeBron James plays Hampstead Downstairs from 15 November to 4 January.
The cast comprises Sam Mitchell as Matt, whose theatre credits include To Kill A Mockingbird (West End) and My Beautiful Laundrette (Leicester Curve) and Enyi Okoronkwo as Shawn, whose theatre credits include The Haystack (Hampstead Theatre) and Tartuffe (National Theatre) with screen credits including Renegade Nell and Giri/Haji.
“All the time we invested. In him. All the money. All the games we went to. The basis of our entire friendship… LeBron for the win. LeBron for the win…”
The fortunes of the Cavaliers are about to change: the great LeBron James, the biggest star in basketball, is coming to Cleveland. But when superfan Matt’s latest business venture turns sour, he has to sell his most prized possession – his pair of Cavs season tickets. The buyer, Shawn, just sold his first short story – so watching his team in the flesh for the first time will be a sweet reward. Now just to figure out what to do with that second ticket…
Thrown together by chance, the next 12 years prove as defining, dramatic, and sometimes heart-breaking for Matt and Shawn as they do for the Cavs – and for ‘King’ LeBron James.
Multi-award-winner Rajiv Joseph returns to Hampstead Theatre with a play-by-play look at how friendship and supporting a team intersect. His plays include Describe the Night (Hampstead), Guards at the Taj (Bush) and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Broadway).
Alice Hamilton director says: “King James is a story of male friendship and about how people can be united by sport even if they’ve nothing else in common. It both is and isn’t about basketball and we hope the uninitiated will find just as much to enjoy as die-hard fans. Rajiv Joseph brilliantly takes us on an emotional rollercoaster ride, capturing the highs and lows of fandom in a wonderfully moving play about forging human connections and lifelong friendships.”
As Hampstead Theatre’s Associate Director, Alice Hamilton’s credits include The Harmony Test, Out of Season, Every Day I Make Greatness Happen and Nineteen Gardens for Hampstead Downstairs as well as The Lightest Element, The Dumb Waiter and The Memory of Water on the Main Stage.
King James will feature design by Good Teeth, lighting design by Matt Haskins and sound design by Max Pappenheim.
