GrimeBoy Digital Programme

A REP ORIGINAL

WRITTEN BY CASEY BAILEY DIRECTED BY MADELEINE KLUDJE

CAST

KEIREN HAMILTON-AMOS

ALEXANDER LOBO MORENO

COREY WEEKES

AUDEN ALLEN

GRIMEBOY

BLUE

JAY

DJ

CREATIVE TEAM Casey Bailey Writer and Lyricist Madeleine Kludje Director Mathias André Assistant Director Corey Weekes Assistant Director

Ebrahim Nazier Set and Costume Designer

Keiren Hamilton-Amos Movement

Kay Wilton Costume Supervisor

Nigel Bailey Associate Wellbeing Practitioner

Ryan Joseph Stafford LX Designer

Lucy Guyver Production Manager

Clive Meldrum Sound Designer

Sharon Foster Tour Producer

Auden Allen Composer PRODUCTION Built by Birmingham Rep Scenic Workshops Jeanette Maggs Company Stage Manager Fran De’Ath Deputy Stage Manager Amelia Cameron-Padmore Stage Management work placement

Amy Carroll, Graeme Mell, Mark Jeffery Scenic Constructors Isaac Vivian Sound No.1 Oliver Colley Lighting Programmer

Thank you to all those who were involved in the development of GrimeBoy. We are eternally grateful. You know who you are!

02 GRIMEBOY

WOULD KANO BE PRIME MINISTER? AND OTHER QUESTIONS THAT DROVE THE WRITING OF GRIMEBOY

BY CASEY BAILEY What separates the greatest grime MC of all time from the people who have held the position of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom? This is a question that has rumbled in my brain from the moment of inception of the idea that has grown into GrimeBoy. Well, if we are to assume that the greatest grime MC of all time is Kano (and we most certainly will), then we could look at the Prime Ministers who have held the position in his lifetime as a reference point. All but two of the Prime Ministers in this time were educated at Oxford, one of those two was a Scottish born Prime Minister, educated at Edinburgh (widely seen as the Scottish equivalent to Oxford).

When we talk of rising to the heights of Prime Minister and when we talk about the pitfalls that are not a rarity for young people growing up in the London borough of Newham – where Kano hails from – we often get stuck on the importance of ambition and lose track of the impact of access.

Who does Kano become if he is educated at Eton and Oxford? The intelligence and ambition of the man are undeniable, but they never drove him to 10 Downing Street. The man who grew up a short distance from grime heavyweights like Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Ghetts and Lethal B, set his sights on a different trophy. For Kano the judgment attached to those who aspire to reach grime greatness, does little to dim his shine, but many never reach the light like he did. Many felt the negative impact of access, when that access was not to rich donors and lifelong business connections, but instead to the drugs and gangs that have found rich soil in the places that have been scarred by poverty in this country.

This is not the story of GrimeBoy, but it is a question I kept in mind in the writing of a show that is close to my heart. As a boy who aspired to Kano-esque success and skated on the thin ice of the many pitfalls of inner-city life, I know this is more than just a story. The weight of responsibility that I felt when writing this work, has made me eternally grateful for the team that I have worked with on it. As a poet, I have become accustomed to a process of shutting the world out and creating. Often, especially when working towards publication, I will get the opinion of trusted friends and an editor, but the work is always mine. In the process I have been through to create GrimeBoy, I have moved from working on my play to working with a team on our play.

Working with Madeleine Kludje (director) has opened my eyes to the wondrous possibilities of theatre, “Casey we don’t need to say ‘X’ we can just do ‘Y’” has become one of my favourite things to hear. Maddi’s eye for detail and focus on what each moment adds to the story has helped me to refine this story beyond what I thought it could be. When you add to this an amazing team of actors, who all bring additional talents to the process, the musical majesty that is Auden Allen and brilliant team of creatives around setting, lighting, and sound you have a real recipe for something special.

Within all of this talent, and months of work, I have tried to remain locked on the questions around environment and our thoughts on success that drove so much of the early thinking on this project. I don’t envisage that GrimeBoy will leave an audience with answers, but I do hope some of these questions will leave the room and enter the world after the curtain call.

03 GRIMEBOY

OUR TEAM — BIRMINGHAM REP The Board Atif Ali BEM Nicola Beckford Andrew Chiduku Councillor Peter Fowler Councillor Jayne Francis Michael Hibbs John Hornby Liz James Ayub Khan MBE Adrian Lester CBE Lucy Marcus Victoria Marsom David Meecham Sir Howard Panter (chair) Brandon Relph Professor David Roberts Rachel Roussel-Tyson Jan Teo Executive Director Rachael Thomas

Kickstart Finance Assistant Remel Ferguson Director of Creative Learning Alexander Summers

Young REP Director (Interim) Rebecca Deeks

Technician Jeanette Maggs

Creative Learning Administrator Hilan Gully

Head of Costume Kay Wilton

Senior Drama Practitioner Becky Reidy

Associate Directors Madeleine Kludje Iqbal Khan

Kickstart Creative Learning Assistant Ashleigh Kerr

Executive Producer Chloe Naldrett

Technical Director Tomas Wright

Producers Joshua Beaumont Jonathan Brindley

Technical Manager Adrian Bradley

Theatre Administration Manager Tracey Wainwright Senior Administration Officer Molly Taylor Theatre Administration Assistant Phoebe Cooke Kickstart HR and Recruitment Assistant Jay Sharpe

Stage Technicians Chris Moss Building Maintenance Technician Andrew Leon Gatenby

Artistic Director Sean Foley

Director of People & Operations Julia Layland

Senior Stage Technician Oliver Hodge

Head of Education Bhavik Parmar

Drama Practitioners Robert Beck Natalie Hart

Assistant Producer Lucy Thompson

Lighting Technician Corben Jones Oliver Colley

Finance Officers Jeanette Davey Claire Monk Athina Tzani

Senior Wardrobe Technician Wendy Anne Hart Wardrobe Assistant Leanne Taylor Richards Beth Edgar Head of Technical Design Simon Fox Production Coordinator Emily Hewlett Theatre Operations Manager Nigel Cairns

Agent For Change Bethany Steventon-Crinks Head of Fundraising Rachel Cranny Trust and Foundations Manager Ruth Harvey Fundraising Officer Katy McKeever Head of Theatre & Sales Gerard Swift Theatre & Sales Manager Hannah Kelly Assistant Theatre Managers Reme McAlister-Willie Imaani Phillips Jade Senior Theatre & Sales Assistants Ilana Gelbart Somayya Sheikh Rosalie Smith Theatre Assistants Taykara Clarke-Harris Jenny Coombs George Holmes Gurpreet Kaur Kanas Wong Alice Cheer

Head of Production Suzy Somerville

Stage Door Receptionists Michael Peters Brandon Hinds Anastasija Koneva

Company Manager Elizah Jackson

Theatre Housekeeper Jane Browning

Bar and Café Manager David Eden-Sangwell

Head of Scenic Workshops Margaret Rees

Theatre Cleaning Assistants Steven Choma Fay Gayle Tracy O’Dell Beverley Shale Donna Nolan

Café Bar Supervisors Mervi Raja Samantha Richardson Emile Thompson

Lead Scenic Constructor Janine Forster Lead Scenic Artists Laura O’Connell

Head of Marketing Richard Leigh

Scenic Constructor Christopher Maggs

Head of Strategic Comms Ben Wooldridge

Head of Sound & AV Jonathan Pearce

Senior Marketing Officer Becky Oldham

Senior Sound Technician James Woodcock

Marketing Officer Faith Dias Neto

Finance Director Anne Russell

Sound Technician Dee Smith

Finance Managers Elizabeth Pearson-Hadley David Johnson

Head of Lighting Alex Bosworth

Marketing and Communications Assistant Aarushi Rana

Senior Lighting Technician Joanne Marshall

Marketing Assistant Susannah Shepherd

04 GRIMEBOY

Catering Director Julian Raikes

Café Bar Team Femi Cooper Clarke Ana Patrycja Sarzyniak Arrahnne Allen Iulia Bularca Florian Bichler Emily Colwill Graham MacDonnell Martin Collins Charlotte Osborne Kishan Patel Gyuner Mazrek Bethany Henshaw Samuel Fisher Callan Johnson Stephanie Carter With thanks to all our Casual Staff and Volunteers.

COMING SOON...

THU 19 MAY – SAT 4 JUN

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Marking the 40th anniversary of an iconic event for Aston Villa, for Birmingham and for Paul Hunter, this is a hilarious, poignant and uplifting show about challenging expectations and proving people wrong.

PLAYBOY OF THE WEST INDIES – THE MUSICAL FRI 10 JUN – SAT 02 JUL

With a toe-tapping score this world premiere musical adaptation of the classic play transports you to the Caribbean for a darkly fun tale of infatuation and scandal.

Presented by Birmingham 2022 Festival.

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Birmingham-rep.co.uk | 0121 236 4455 A huge standing ovation for our supporters…

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