Tambo & Bones, which celebrated is European premiere in 2023 in coproduction with Stratford East, is returning to the London venue as part of a UK tour this spring.
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.
Described an an exhilarating, darkly comic and provocative satire on capitalism and Black performance, it 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.
Clifford Samuel (2:22 A Ghost Story) will play the role of Tambo and Daniel Ward (Cat on A Hot Tin Roof) will reprise his role as Bones.
Directed by Matthew Xia (artistic director and joint CEO of ATC), Tambo & Bones is an Actors Touring Company (ATC), Stratford East and Royal & Derngate, Northampton Coproduction in association with Belgrade Theatre, Leeds Playhouse and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse.
The ATC production of Dave Harris’s show will tour from March 7 – May 24, with a run at Stratford East from April 29 – May 10.
The creative team includes set and costume designers Sadeysa Greenaway-Bailey and ULTZ. The full creative team are 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 and assistant designer Mark Simmons. *WAR produced by Roly Botha and Excalibah and Dollas to Dreams produced by Excalibah and Roly Botha.