Clifford Samuel (2:22 A Ghost Story) and Daniel Ward (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) star in Tambo & Bones, which comes to Stratford East as part of its UK tour this April.
Tambo and Bones are stuck in a minstrel show. It’s hard to know what’s real when you’re stuck in a minstrel show. Their escape plan: get out, get rich, get even.
From Actors Touring Company (ATC), Dave Harris’s play sees Samuel as Tambo and Ward playing Bones.
Directed by Matthew Xia (artistic director and joint CEO of ATC), Tambo & Bones is an Actors Touring Company, Stratford East and Royal & Derngate, Northampton coproduction in association with Belgrade Theatre, Leeds Playhouse and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse.
Making its European premiere in 2023, Tambo & Bones is an exhilarating, darkly comic and provocative satire on capitalism and Black performance, that explores the commodification of the Black experience through the mediums of minstrelsy, hip-hop and afro-futurism.
Spanning 500 years, Tambo and Bones journey from comedy double-act, to hip-hop superstars to activists in a future America, contending with the alarming repercussions of a nation torn apart by race. Harris’ blistering play laughs through our past, blows the roof off our present and imagines an explosive future for our world and for theatre.
The creative team includes set and costume designers Sadeysa Greenaway-Bailey and ULTZ, lighting designer Ciarán Cunningham, Hip-Hop Beats Excalibah, sound designer & additional composition Richard Hammarton, movement director Kloé Dean, video designer Gino Ricardo Green, associate director Dubheasa Lanipekun, costume supervisor Ysanne Tidd, fight director Sam Lyon-Behan, original fight choreography Kevin McCurdy, voice and dialect coach Joel Trill, magic & illusions consultant Chris Cox, production drama therapist Wabriya King, lighting associate Tom Lightbody, puppetry designer Hugh Purves, assistant designer Mark Simmons and original casting by Julia Horan.
The production plays Stratford East from April 29 – May 10, 2025. Tickets are on sale now: www.stratfordeast.com
Top image: Clifford Samuel and Daniel Ward – credit Jane Hobson