The full company has been announced for Not Black and White, the season of three plays to be presented at the Tricycle Theatre examining the state of Britain at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Not Black and White, directed by Paulette Randall, begins its run on October 8 and runs through December 19.
Jimmy Akingbola, Aml Ameen, John Boyega , Karl Collins, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Abhin Galeya, Jaye Griffiths, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Simone James, Amelia Lowdell, Cecilia Noble, Rebecca Scroggs and Robert Whitelock will star in Not Black and White. The series features three works by leading playwrights Roy Williams, Kwame Kwei-Armah and Bola Agbaje tackling the prison system, the mayoralty and immigration, repsectively. Williams' Category kicks off the run from October 8 through December 19, followed by Kwei-Armah's Seize the Day, which plays October 22 through December 17. Agbaje's Detaining Justice, directed by Indhu Rubasingham, completes the cycle, plays November 25 through December 15. All three productions will eventually play in repertoire.
Akingbola's stage credits include Everything Must Go! at Soho Theatre, Othello at the Lyric Hammersmith, Henry VIII for the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Cut at the Donmar Warehouse and Prayer Room for Birmingham Rep. Screen credits include Holby Blue, The Bill and The Royal.
Ameen’s stage credits include Jolson at the Victoria Palace and Oliver! at the London Palladium. He was last on screen in ITV’s Gunrush alongside Timothy Spall, with other screen credits including Fallout and Disconnected.
Boyega’s previous stage credits are Six Parties for the National Theatre and Macbeth at the Cochrane Theatre.
Collins was last at the Tricycle in Fabulation and The Darfur Plays. Collins’ other theatre credits include The 11th Capital at the Royal Court and Fuente Ovejuna and Sarita at the National Theatre. He is best known on screen for his roles in Casualty, The Bill and Grease Monkeys.
Duncan-Brewster was last at the Tricycle in 2008 in Let There Be Love. Further Tricycle Theatre credits are Fabulation, Playboy of the West Indies and Blues For Mr Charlie. Her other theatre credits include The Baccae, The Magic Carpet and Peepshow at the Lyric Hammersmith, Keepers at Hampstead Theatre and Ashes and Sand at the Royal Court.
Galeya was last at the Tricycle in Best of Motives. His other theatre credits include The Container at the Young Vic and The Ramayana at the National Theatre. Galeya is well-known on screen for his work on The Bill and Murder Investigation Team.
Griffiths played the Tricycle in Mr Knightley and Ugly Rumours. Her other theater credits include Julius Caesar and Timon of Athens at the Young Vic, Wit at the Vaudeville, A Woman of No Importance and Gasping at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
Holdbrook-Smith has been at the Tricycle in Fabulation, Gem of the Ocean, Walk Hard – Talk Loud and The Playboy of the West Indies. His other theatre credits include Death and the Kings Horseman at the National Theatre, Love Labour’s Lost and We The People for The Globe, and A Respectable Wedding at the Young Vic. Holdbrook-Smith’s television work includes Horne and Corden, Star Stories, Little Britain and Pulling.
James' theater credits include 365 at the Lyric Hammersmith and Chatroom & Citizenship at the National Theatre. Her television credits include the forthcoming series Apples and Oranges and Silent Witness.
Lowdell’s theatre credits include The Frontline for The Globe, Oxford Street, Breath Boom When Brains Don’t Count and Yard Gal at the Royal Court and A Bitter Herb at Bristol Old Vic. Her television credits include The Bill, Holby City and Casualty.
Noble has previously been at the Tricycle in Wine in the Wilderness, Water, Pecong, The Piano Lesson, Playboy of the West Indies and Iced. Her other stage credits include In The Red & Brown Water and Raisin In the Sun at the Young Vic, His Dark Materials, Henry V and The Recruiting Officer at the National Theatre and Talking in Tongues and This Is A Chair at the Royal Court.
Whitelock's stage credits include The 39 Steps at West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Father for Chichester Theatre and Macbeth, St Erkenwald, Dr Faustus, Henry VIII, Camino Real and The Spanish Tragedy, all for The Royal Shakespeare Company.
Scroggs has appeared on stage in Hedda Gabler and As You Like It for the Gardner Arts Centre.
Not Black and White features set and costume design by Rosa Maggiora, lighting desigb by James Farncombe and sound design by Tom Lishman.