The resurgence of Black Lives Matter has given fresh potency to the theatre company’s production – an earthquake of sound and dance
We have been encouraged to bring our “rags and flags” to Talawa’s first live show since the lifting of lockdown restrictions, staged by emerging performers and described as a one-hour theatrical rave. Those of us who forget to bring these are handed coloured handkerchiefs and paper plates at the door of Fairfield Halls in Croydon, south London, to shake to the beat from our seats.
The opening moments of Run It Back feature a towering set of speakers lit up with fairy lights as DJ Psykhomantus is wheeled to the centre of the traverse stage, a scaffold structure, with his mixer and decks in tow. An earthquake of a production follows, with sounds that switch from grime to jungle, soca, bashment and Afrobeats, sometimes within seconds, and with choreography to match.
