What's On

Taking to the Belvoir stage for the first show of 2022, Black Brass is a play of voyaging and discovery, told through music and song that span a continent (Shangana, Swahili, Kikuyu, Xhosa, as well as English). A lauded hit of Perth Festival 2021, it comes to Sydney for a limited season at Belvoir, from 6 to 23 January, 2022. 

Australia, today. In a small recording studio, a cleaner tries to tidy the mess left by careless musicians. As he cleans, a window opens onto his life – the pain of leaving his home, the alienation of living in a new land, his gratitude, his confusion, the beautiful mess of life. But simultaneously, on the other side of the glass, another man is recording music both joyous and heart-rending, songs of home, of love, of power. 

Black Brass draws inspiration from interviews conducted with Perth’s Zimbabwean, Sudanese, South African, Central Congo, Mauritius, Nigerian, Congolese and Kenyan communities on the theme of resilience. In a soulful and uplifting story, it gives voice to those on the margins, offering a window into their lives and amplifying voices not often heard in the theatre.  

Written and performed by the extraordinary Mararo Wangai (The Last Great Hunt’s The Advisors, Black Swan State Theatre Company’s Tempest), joined onstage by exquisite composer-musician Mahamudo Selimane, Black Brass is co-created and directed by multi award-winner Matt Edgerton (Barking Gecko Theatre’s Fully Sikh, A Ghost in my Suitcase).