THE ARCHITECT commemorates the 30th anniversary year of the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence by bringing together a collective of prolific Black theatre-makers to explore and celebrate Black lives and the dreams that accompany them – whilst imagining the blueprint of what a future city could and should be.
Meet The Architect – a 48-year-old Londoner of Caribbean heritage, who has fulfilled his life-long dream of becoming a builder of cities, a maker of dreams.
Step aboard a double decker bus to share that dream with him: a vision for a city of the future – a new way of existing. A blueprint that embraces everyone.
In support of the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, this immersive theatrical performance aboard a London double-decker bus, takes passengers on a ride like no other through South East London to Woolwich’s General Gordon Square. Along the way they will encounter storytelling, characters, musicians, steel pan and runners from Stephen’s athletics club – the Cambridge Harriers. Passengers will alight in General Gordon Square where the culmination of the performance will be THE ARCHITECT’S DREAM, a free standalone event, providing a collective moment for audiences and the wider community to look forward in hope and to create the future we all want.
The production’s stellar cast is led by Karl Collins (Rockets And Blue Lights, NATIONAL THEATRE) and Llewella Gideon (Marys Seacole, DONMAR WAREHOUSE) who play The Architect and The Conductor respectively. The cast also includes Daniel Ward who recently starred in the critically-acclaimed Tambo & Bones, Danielle Kassarate, Shayde Sinclair (Sleepover, THE BUSH THEATRE); Doreene Blackstock, Omar Austin, Dalumui Moyo.
Olivier Award-winning director Matthew Xia, Artistic Director of Actors Touring Company (ATC) says: “This is not a play about Stephen Lawrence: but an artistic response to that seismic event in British history in 1993. I have gathered a collective of the most brilliant Black theatre artists to respond to this commemorative moment and as is often the way with such painful events and memories, we want to try to move through the trauma, and the profound loss towards something uplifting and hopeful. We come together in our collective power to celebrate Black lives, hopes and dreams and to imagine an alternative city, designed and inhabited by ‘The Architect’.”
The multi-talented creatives behind THE ARCHITECT alongside Matthew Xia, are multi-award winning playwrights Roy Williams, Mojisola Adebayo and Bola Agbaje, immersive sound designer XANA and emerging writers Dexter Flanders and Vanessa Macauley.
