In Everglade Studio opens in a small, forgotten recording studio, some three or four floors
underground in 1971 England.

We meet Skye, an aspiring country music star, Baron, her surly keyboardist, and Clarke, their enthusiastic but temperamental producer. Clarke has big plans for Skye and is trying to squeeze every last drop of talent and creativity from her and Baron before their studio time runs out.

The play introduces these characters with the first of many brilliant original songs by Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller and Aveev Issacson, performed live by Isaacson and Emily Moment who play Baron and Skye respectively. From its opening moments, In Everglade Studio cements itself as a masterclass in acting and performance combined, only further solidified by the play’s fourth and final character Matilda (Hannah Omisore), a black singer/songwriter who Clarke has invited to the recording session to establish more “soul” into Skye’s music.

Matilda is a destabilising presence in the recording studio’s already volatile working environment. She is black and she is beautiful, posing an immediate threat to Skye. Clarke becomes frustrated as the person he has backed to be the next big thing is no longer the most talented voice in the room. As the performing trio record more and more of Matilda’s songs under the guidance of the clueless Clarke, the audience is shown the deeply uncomfortable and antagonistic circumstances that Matilda must contend with to have her voice and music heard in 1971 England, each character posing a unique threat to Matilda’s wide-eyed innocence.

Baron is that subtle disparaging presence that acts friendly yet holds his tongue when it comes to defending the minority in the room. Clarke, meanwhile, represents the black person who would rather shed his race and identity to get ahead in life and avoid facing, head-on, the challenges that come with being black and successful. Skye is an outwardly hostile force towards Matilda, trying to undermine and outshine her at any and every opportunity.

The third act looks to flip the natural character dynamics on its head, as the strange behaviour each character has been exhibiting throughout the play is finally explained. A harmful chemical substance has been slowly leeching through the walls of the tiny underground recording studio, turning our characters crazy in the process. In Everglade Studio melds the bizarre and ridiculous behaviour of four people who are unknowingly inebriated, with their fundamental biases and hang-ups, all the while having them perform original songs that take on new meaning under these new circumstances.

This comedy thriller toes the line between hilarity and a claustrophobic terror that is exaggerated tenfold
by the intimate space in which the play is performed. The Hope Theatre in Highbury and Islington is the ideal place to watch madness settle into these characters and, at times, it felt as though we too were feeling the effects of those poisonous walls.

This play is brilliantly written in both the music and script. Each character feels distinct in what they say and sing and there were several laugh-out-loud moments. The times where the characters do sing don’t feel like a separate entity to the storytelling as could often be the case in musicals. Instead, the songs become just as important at propelling the plot as any of the spoken dialogue.

However, Matilda’s significance as a character is capped by the plot. She is demeaned and spoken down to throughout, is interrupted in songs and never truly gets her chance to fight back before the effects of the contaminated walls take over the bodily functions of her and her oppressors. I loved the characters for all their flaws but found Matilda to be the least developed of the group, with not enough in the way of motivation like some of the other characters.

Overall, I had a lot of fun watching In Everglade Studio. The music was an absolute highlight for me and brought an interesting new twist to the idea of a musical. The acting is excellent and directors Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller and Phoebe Rowell John, along with stage manager Summer Keeling, create a brilliant atmosphere, really bringing to life the feel of a tiny recording studio with volatile peers and poisonous walls. I would recommend going to see the play here in London after its critically acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2023.

In Everglade Studio ran @ The Hope Theatre from 16th April- 4th May 2024

Unlucky in Love? Love Steps By Anastasia Osei-Kuffour May Have The Answers You Have Been Looking For.

At one point or another, I am sure we have all asked ourselves: When will it be my turn? When will I get the chance to experience that great love books and movies talk about as if it were a God-given right? On Thursday I had the great pleasure of peaking behind the curtain of one woman’s story that isn’t all sunshine, roses and easily-maintained relationships.

Love Steps, written and directed by Anastasia Osei-Kuffour, uses poetry, dance, drama and music to delve into what it means to be a black woman looking for love in the modern age. The Omnibus Theatre in Clapham provides a necessary stage for a story that is painfully relatable as we join Anna (Sharon Rose) and the friends and relationships (all played by Reece Richards) she makes on her way to finding the love of her life.

Love Steps chronicles three years in Anna’s life. We meet our main character at the age of 34, stuck in a rut and too stubborn to change her ways. Anna wants a fairytale romance, she wants to meet “The One” and be swept off her feet in the process, married and have kids to appease herself, and what she believes success and happiness to be, and to pacify her nagging parents. She has a detailed list of all the things that this hypothetical man must be and have (tall, handsome, have a job… ), yet when her happily married and settled friends ask her what she is doing to actually go out and secure this future for herself, Anna finds that her efforts are less than sufficient. After fruitlessly swiping on dating apps in an attempt to kickstart her dating life, Anna begins to meet and interact with men who fall short of her list by miles.

Though the premise of this story is one that is felt across the globe, this isn’t just anyone’s life, this is the life and the struggles of Anna, a black woman living in 2024 London. She faces additional feelings of inadequacy and exploitation that underline every one of her relationships both real and hypothetical. While the Anna we first meet is high-spirited and cheerful, there is that very real sense that underneath it all her treatment as a black woman in these romantic spaces has taken its toll on her confidence. Rose embodies Anna masterfully, toeing the line between warmly inviting the audience in to experience just a snippet of her life, whilst delivering devastating poetry that belies a more sinister and sadder truth. Playing off her costar Richards brilliantly, their great chemistry is utilised to the max as Richards embodies every other character in Anna’s life. From her mother and father, well-meaning friends and boyfriend of two years, Richards fills each of his roles as though they were his only character. I found myself somewhat disappointed that we didn’t get to see Richards in the shoes of a character who had more to do and say.

Without giving away exactly how Anna’s relationships fare, it’s important to mention that Anna is not perfect. Osei-Kuffour has done an excellent job of creating a character who experiences highs and lows and everything in between, without falling into the trap of becoming self-involved and unrealistic. Anna doesn’t pity herself, nor does she think herself absolved of blame. At times Anna’s speech to the audience felt like a therapy session, as she learns to adjust to life with a partner after being on her own for so long. It is refreshing to meet a protagonist who doesn’t have all of the answers even at the end of their story. 

The final aspect that makes Love Steps what it is, is the use of movement around the stage. The set design is very minimal, just a projection sheet that depicts the titles of each section of the play, and a lot of empty space for the two actors to fill. I was somewhat trepidatious about how the two would hold the audience’s attention with only their words and no props, but by the end of the 75-minute run-time, I appreciated dance and movement as a prop all on its own.

Choreographer Leroy ‘FX’ Dias Dos Santos does a superb job of combining the lights and movements of characters to convey love, rejection, hate and heartbreak. The actors also do well to move so beautifully around each other whilst saying very complex and emotional spoken poetry.

This play is a must-see for those still looking for their life partner and those who have found love already. It’s witty and engaging, with multiple moments that had the audience laughing and nodding along with Anna and her trials and tribulations in love. 

Love Steps runs until April 20th at the Omnibus Theatre. Find out more here.

Then transfers to TALAWA from 29th May to 1st June

Small Stage: Big City. The Lonely Londoners gets a modern stage adaptation @ Jermyn Street Theatre.

What does the big city mean to you? What does it mean to live and breathe the same air as millions of others each and every day? Commuting and living in a hub of innovation and prosperity? Then ask yourself, what does it mean to be second best? Overlooked by a society that prospers around you, and ridiculed because of the colour of your skin. Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners has been an indisputable bastion of the Black British experience since the mid 1950’s when it was first printed, and now, in 2024 a brilliant and moving recreation of Selvon’s poignant story have been recreated for the stage. Roy Williams’ adaptation of Selvon’s definitive work manages to squeeze the vast expanses of London’s endless sprawl, onto a stage no larger that your living room.

The Lonely Londoners is a piece of writing that has been close to me for a number of years. Being a text that I read and wrote about at university, hearing that it had been adapted into a theatre production was a cause for great excitement. I initially worried that any adaptation limited to a single stage would fall short of the scale that Selvon manages to portray in his writing. Roy Williams, the plays adaptor and director, cleverly does so in a way that is beautifully fitting to its predecessor. From the opening lines of Williams’ adaptation I see that Gamba Cole, Tobi Bakare, Romario Simpson, Gilbert Kyem Junior, Shannon Hayes, Carol Moses and Aimee Powell bring more than enough stage presence to embody London and its enormity.

The story follows Moses, played by Gamba Cole, and the friends he has picked up in his years as a Londoner. There’s Lewis and Big City, two fellow Caribbean migrants who moved to the City of London in the 1950’s. The name Moses is notable within the black experience in the London the audience is invited to watch. He is the point of call for anyone taking the trip over to London from Trinidad and Jamaica. Lewis (Tobi Bakare) and Big City (Gilbert Kyem Jnr) are two such examples of men taken under Moses’ wing. They come by his bedsit in Bayswater for advice and clean clothes and cigarettes almost daily, something that has clearly been the case for years already. We join the trio as Henry Oliver (Romario Simpson) knocks on Moses’ door looking for guidance and hospitality. Henry, who goes by Galahad, has just arrived on British soil and through his triumphs and defeats, we are treated to a look into what it means to take on life in the big city as a Lonely Londoner.

Roy Williams delves into the character of Moses and how he came to be the pillar of his community. He has tense and vivid dream-like conversations with a woman named Christina (Aimee Powell), and as we learn more about her and who she is to Moses, the scope of what he has left behind for a city that fails him over and over becomes clear. This is not a game, as much as he jokes with Lewis, Big City and Galahad, failure is not an option for him and his friends.

Through an engaging use of lighting and brilliant spacing and movement, The Lonely Londoners at the Jermyn Street Theatre uses the next 1 hour and 45 minutes to transform the tiny theatre space in Picadilly Circus into a bustling city-scape with palpable tension. Playing out on stage is the disconnect between new and old ways of thinking, between home and where one happens to live, and between Black and White.

We meet Lewis’ Family that follow him to London after reading the grand stories of a city of progress and fortune that he wrote about in his letters home. His mother Tanty (Carol Moses) and wife Agnes (Shannon Hayes) begin their own journeys in this strange city, learning to navigate the reality that awaits them. They are ignored and antagonised by locals and neglected by their main support system, Lewis. Tanty and Agnes place a strain, both emotionally and financially, on the precarious lifestyle that Lewis has cultivated for himself in London, a dynamic that plays out in a heartbreaking way throughout the play.

Meanwhile, Big City, an easy-going and impressionable young man, is battered by an onslaught of belittlement and nay-sayers that begin to wear away at his defences, taking him down a dark path of hatred and revenge that threatens the life he wants. All four men face vices that seek to tear them down in both the very structure and institutions of 1950’s London, and within their own shortcomings and egos.

As an audience member I saw a group of men left behind by their peers and that neglect reveals itself in the palpable loneliness that all four battle. Big City says it best early in the play, quoting a saying from back home: “Out of many, we are one people.” While Big City means to demonstrate the power of this statement to the apathetic white population of London, The Lonely Londoners depicts a reality where blackness makes you the ‘other’ and loneliness becomes deadly. It is only by leaning on one another, and sharing the hardships, that these Lonely Londoners can hope to come out on top in the vast, unforgiving city. The play is hilarious at times, ultimately uplifting and uniquely ‘London-y’, a sure-fire hit for anyone reading who calls London their home. I greatly recommend going to see the play before the end of its run on April 6th, to see life, love and London brought together beautifully on one (impressively tiny) stage.

29th February – 6th April 2024 @ The Jermyn Street Theatre

Jessica Hagan’s play Brenda’s Got a Baby is a delightfully wacky, look behind the curtain of womanhood, motherhood and relationships.

On her 29th birthday Ama (Anita-Joy Uwajeh), gets the rude awakening that her career and eight-year-long relationship isn’t enough to keep her demons at bay. Her boyfriend Dami (Jordan Duvigneau) breaks up with her after falling for another woman. Whilst her newly married younger sister Jade (Jahmila Heath) and Mother (Michelle Asante) pressure her about marriage and motherhood.

Brenda’s Got a Baby begins with Ama staunchly unbothered by the call of motherhood. At 29, those around her are falling head-first into pregnancy and marriage as their “biological clocks” begin to tick. Brenda, a character we never see, is revealed to be a girl from Ama’s class who got pregnant at 16. When Ama bumps into her on the street years later holding her 5th baby we begin to see how Ama differs from the women around her. While Brenda slights Ama for not having the purpose she finds in her children, Ama mentions “the rules“ that were gospel when they were younger – go to school, graduate, don’t get pregnant, go to university, get a job and so on. Ama has done all of this. She has a well-paying job in London, has just bought her first flat and expects her boyfriend to propose very soon, prompting the start of her story as a wife and mother. To Ama, despite being behind her 24-year-old sister, she has done everything right.

When Dami breaks up with her, Ama’s carefully laid plans begin to unravel. Catastrophically. By the end of the first act, Ama has decided that she will have a baby by her 30th birthday in a year’s time. As soon as she lays down this gauntlet for herself, a countdown clock begins ticking down from 365 days above her head, a brilliant physical manifestation of Ama’s stress and a highlight with the audience.

The rest of the play is set over the next 365 days cataloguing all of Ama’s desperate attempts to get pregnant and finally be seen as important in her community. Much of what happens in Act 2 is best left as a surprise, but as we watch Ama’s mental health deteriorate I couldn’t help but sympathise with the boisterous and confident woman who has been completely lost to societal pressures and a phantom “ticking clock”.

More broadly, Brenda’s Got a Baby is incredibly funny. Throughout the first act, we are endeared to Ama as she
keeps a brave face while things go wrong around her. A welcome levity also comes in the form of ‘Skippy‘ (Edward Kagutuzi), Jade’s husband. He is loving and patient with his wife and her family, whilst being hilariously sincere and earnest. Michelle Asante as Jade and Ama’s mother is another highlight. Jade is that strict and, as Ama puts it “overbearing” black mother that we all know, with disarming quips that put the boisterous sisters back in their place. However, she also delivers a heart-wrenching monologue that brings together beautifully what it means to be a mother and to watch your children grow up.

Brenda’s Got a Baby does, however, have a few over-arching issues with tone. The one-liners, jokes and comedic situations sometimes undermine the serious issues that the play is trying to discuss. For instance, a short discussion on the shortcomings of IVF for black women is given not nearly enough time given the main character’s year-long struggle with it. There are facts and statistics about IVF shared in conversation that are meant to shock and appall, yet seem largely out of place coming from a character who is so unserious most of the time. Brenda’s Got a Baby could have benefitted from a closer analysis of the processes of IVF and its mental and financial impacts, depicted as more of a long-standing issue that follows Ama throughout the second act, just as it so brilliantly does with the issues of motherhood and marriage.

Overall, Brenda’s Got A Baby is a passionate and rewarding insight into what it is to be a woman in the 21st century. Highlighting the confusing and conflicting lessons about motherhood women are taught growing up. Despite Ama becoming unreachable by the end of the play, the story teaches so much about supporting your fellow woman despite her often being framed as the enemy. Playwright Jessica Hagan does an excellent job of creating ordinary women, people you would see day to day, and putting them in extraordinary positions, creating an entertaining, and thought-provoking piece of art.

Brenda’s Got a Baby runs at the New Diorama Theatre until 2nd December | Find out more and buy tickets here.

I visited Theatre Peckham this week to watch the incredible play I Love Acting, But F*ck This Industry.

I Love Acting But F*ck This Industry follows three young black actors looking to make a name for themselves in the bleak post-COVID entertainment industry. The audience are brought along on the perpetual ups and downs that each of them must face on their individual journeys towards greatness. 

As we take to our seats, we are greeted by the laughter and affectionate taunting of friends Manny, Ade and Zion, already sitting on the stage. Their camaraderie bridges the gap between acting and real friendship, an early indication of great things to come from this provocative and endlessly relevant title. When the chatter of the audience lulls and the music is silenced, Manny, Ade and Zion give us a peek behind the curtain of the entertainment industry, with periods of triumph and success marred by long stretches of little to no work disappointment and setbacks. Their story is set in the years following the total standstill of the pandemic that set so many fledgling careers back. While casting calls are being made again and the population turns to the entertainment industry for escape, the reality for these boys remains ZOOM auditions, self-tapes and little-to-no feedback from directors and agents. We learn early on that the main theme of this play is ambition, and how each of them utilise it to get ahead in life.

For Ade (Mohammed Mansaray), ambition means proving the naysayers wrong and providing for his mother in her old age and illness that the NHS is stretched too thin to treat seriously. He is the only “classically” trained actor of the trio, having just graduated he’s trying to prove to prove to his friends that the money and three years was worth it. Ade is focused, something that leaves him somewhat outcast amongst his peers as his single-minded drive makes him uptight and defensive of his creative choices. Ade recites a quote by Pablo Picasso often and lives by it, “The picture lives only through the person who is looking at it”. Ade is determined to stay true to who he is, but struggles with all that he must sacrifice to get even a modicum of respect in his chosen industry. His strong opinions on striking, the use of A.I in the entertainment industry and the lasting impacts of the pandemic, make for an interesting and likeable character.

Manny (Alvin Ikenwe), views ambition as something that eventually boils down to luck, or as he puts it, “Timing”. He is dedicated to his craft, putting in hard work and effort when necessary, driven by a need to move out of his crowded home and finally have a space all to himself. Yet he finds himself floundering and unmotivated after years of trying with no success. He is the only one of the three to mention a girlfriend and wanting a life outside of acting which takes some of his focus away at critical junctures in his career. Manny is funny, laid-back and truly believes that his time is coming; he only needs to wait. However as his friends book roles, he is left as the hype man receiving little support back. I wont spoil too much of Manny’s story and where it takes him, but as he struggles with his identity, he begins to lose sight of what drew him to acting in the first place.

Finally, Zion (Malachi Pullar-Latchman), approaches ambition timidly; unsure of what is next for him. While all of the friends mention dropping out of the industry to focus on more lucrative careers, Zion is the only one who seems to really think about giving up. He discusses going back to selling drugs as it’s something he knows he is good at, despite all the time, effort and money he has put into acting. While the others seem determined to make it work, Zion appears to be looking for an easy answer to all of his problems. His is the character who most drives home the meaning of this play. One of the closing lines spoken by Ade, asks: “Are you, you?” Zion is the perfect example of how the industry chews people up and spits them out.

I Love Acting, But F*ck This Industry took writers Faisal Dacosta and Raphael Famotibe a year and half from conception to production, and I could tell from just a short cast and crew Q+A that this story was not born just from a frustration or anger with the entertainment industry, but a place of love and respect also. One of the first questions asked to them was about the eye-catching name of the show. While provocative, the duo commented on the relatability of the sentiment, not just within the acting community and industry, but across all workplaces and career paths. This is a story for everyone (Raphel notes, commenting on the diversity within the audience) and one that everyone should go to see.

Overall, this is a story about ambition in the face of hardships. Actors Mohammad, Alvin and Malachi were asked what change they wanted to see in their industry and the consensus was that actors and creatives alike deserve more respect. To be treated as more than just a number on a call sheet or ZOOM audition 25 out of 50. The writers and actors strikes are proof enough that stories like this one need to be told and what an excellent story it was.

From the writers and actors, to director Rayxia Ojo, Movement Director Yemurai Zvaraya, Sound Designer Rochelle Frommars, Set Designer Aliyah-Marie Yanguba, and Costume and Hair by NastaciaRoosevelt, I Love Acting, But F*ck This Industry is a brilliant saga that breathes life into the post-pandemic struggles that we all have felt. It is funny, heart-breaking at times, and above all else, truthful.

I Love Acting, But F*ck The Industry ran @ Theatre Peckham’s Young Gifted and Black Season 10th-18th October

Kalaf Epalanga’s debut novel Whites Can Dance Too is a momentous and invigorating glance behind the curtain of one man and his love affair with music and rhythm.

Epalanga manages to intertwine difficult themes of love, freedom and the ever-encroaching harm of racism around the world, all to the beat of Kuduro, the techno-infused music of Angola and Epalanga himself. His novel follows three different voices as they live through their own stories and battle their own struggles, accompanied by music and dance.

We are thrust into the story as we are introduced to Epalanga mere hours before the most important performance of his life in Oslo, stuck at the border with improper documentation. He is detained under the suspicion of being an illegal immigrant and finds himself trapped in a waiting game with antagonising immigration officials. Writers are told all the time that the opening passage to their piece is one of, if not the most important part of writing, and Epalanga’s is a masterclass in setting the tone for the remainder of the novel. When we meet him, he seems to be a jumbled mix of emotions. He is, at once, optimistic and laid back, while also showing a bone-deep apprehension towards his fate, recognised by anyone who has found themselves in a foreign country where no one looks like you. This contrast is found throughout the novel as Epalanga bridges the gap between African and European cultures, putting the two into sharp focus with the uniting power of music.

As we delve deeper into his time in detention and the stories he tells of dance and Kuduro taking him and his friends all over the world, we become more and more aware of the underlying theme of “the Other”. The grey, lonely and oppressive walls of the detention facility Epalanga finds himself in are so starkly different to the bustling liveliness of Roque, the largest open-air store in Africa that a friend once took him to. There is a need for belonging that he sets up at the very beginning and throughout works to show his reader that you aren’t always going to find it everywhere you go.

To that point, however, I must include a lengthy quote from the middle of the novel (no spoilers!) that, I think, encapsulates another of the story’s key themes. Epalanga writes: “It looks like when you’re in the middle of the room, even if you seem to be only focused on your partner, there’s this whole collective choreography everyone seems to follow, a code of movement.” While Epalanga is detained and treated as “the Other” in one circumstance, there are many beautiful passages throughout the novel that proves dance and music and rhythm to be the universal voice across the globe. Epalanga’s music has taken him all over the world to perform, and it is music that is the common denominator throughout.

Overall, Whites Can Dance Too is a dazzling collage of culture and self-expression that is a testament to the author’s love of music and his talent for conveying it in written form. There are passages that could only have been written by a musician as they evoke a rhythm and movement that is hard to resist. I would recommend putting together a nice long playlist of songs from all over the world, and sitting back and reading Whites Can Dance Too this summer.

Whites Can Dance Too is available from 15th June from Faber.co.uk

In the long awaited sequel to 2019’s surprise success, we rejoin Billy Batson and his adopted family as they struggle to fill the roles of the everyday superhero.

The world is already protected by the likes of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, leaving Shazam:Fury of the Gods to tackle the question: where does this mismatched family of six fit in?

Zachary Levi reprises his role as Shazam, the super-powered adult alter ego of Billy Batson, and does an excellent job of playing into the humorous aspects of a child burdened with powers in the body of an adult. Just as he did in the first film, Levi plays a convincing teenage boy, with erratic and often disastrous decision making, and painfully accurate awkwardness. This is nothing new for Levi as his portrayal of Billy was one of the defining aspects of the first film.

In Fury of the Gods however, I found myself taken out of the story by some of Levi’s acting choices. Despite an overall good performance, Asher Angel, who plays Billy in his teenage form, seemed to be playing a different character at times. Because Levi appeared eager to recreate the humour and mannerisms that had everyone singing his praises in the first film, he forgot that in both the movie and real world, four years have passed and Billy is no longer 14 years old. Angel’s Billy looks and acts older than Levi’s version and while not detrimental to the film it stood out when compared to the other super-powered family members (who we spent far less time getting to know as characters).

Djimon Hounsou returned as ‘TheWizard’, and unlike the first film, he makes a real impact on the plot and enjoyability of the film. A begrudging help to Billy and his family, Hounsou plays the part of a powerful wizard who assumed his days of heroism and burdensome obligation were behind him after imbuing Billy with his god-like powers. Hounsou is a delightful injection of dry humour in an already funny film and perhaps opens the door for a new foray into comedy for an actor more known for serious roles.

In terms of plot, the film follows the usual end-of-the-world template that has serviced comic book movies for the last decade. The “Bad Guys” in this adaptation come in the form of Rachel Zegler, who jumped onto the scene in 2021 with Spielberg’s West Side Story, Helen Mirren (which was a shock to me too) and Lucy Lui. The trio make up The Daughters of Atlas, a kind of corrupt opposite to the goodness found in Billy’s family unit. Their motivations are somewhat trivial, but are saved by adequate performances from the very well-known and loved faces.

Fury of the Gods does well to not make the characters morals so cut and dry on both sides and had some relatable family dynamics – however skewed. Despite my disappointment with the predictable worldwide destruction narrative, I was pleasantly surprised by how grounded all the destruction felt. Yes, hundreds of nameless and inconsequential beasts were ransacking Philadelphia for much of the third act, but I still felt sympathetic toward the struggles that Billy and his siblings were fighting. In so many of the last-act large-scale superhero battles, the central conflict is lost behind huge CGI-filled fight sequences with no clear winner or loser. Family remains at the heart of this franchise and it’s all the better for it. It also helps that they quip and crack jokes as they contribute to the destruction of an entire city.

On a technical note, Fury of the Gods is well-paced and directed, using exciting narrative and characters to build upon the stories we were introduced to in 2019. An underwhelming performance at the global and domestic box office opening weekend belies what is a genuinely good and enjoyable film to watch at the cinema.

Shazam!: Fury of the Gods is leagues above the likes of Black Adam and the Latest Ant-Man and The Wasp film. Overall, I would recommend both the Shazam! films as fun and standalone introductions to DC Comics. It is a shame that new creative control at DC and Warner makes it unlikely that we will see these actors take on these characters again in the DC Universe.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is in UK cinemas now

Here are a few of the latest and greatest new and upcoming releases by Black British authors this month. 

Dispatches From The Diaspora by Gary Younge
Publication Date: 14th March 2023
Publisher: Faber and Faber

Dispatches From the Diaspora contains a moving collection of political journalism from Gary Younge, a man whose voice is considered as one of the leading black political voices out of the UK. With a professional career spanning over 20 years, Younge has encapsulated in his book some of the most pivotal events of the 21st Century, all from his unique perspective. His involvement with world-changing politics over many years allows for an insightful and penetrating dive into events such as Hurricane Katrina, Obama’s election victory and Mandela’s first election campaign.

Praise for Dispatches From The Diaspora:
“Fused with truth, power and illumination” – David Lammy, Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.

“An outstanding journalist and chronicler of the African diaspora.” – Bernardine Evaristo, Author of Girl Woman, Other

The Blend: How to Successfully Manage a Career and a Family by Tobi Asare
Publication Date: 9th March 2023
Publisher: Headliner Home

It’s not about ‘juggling’ or ‘balancing’ your career and family. With Tobi Asare, it’s about blending the two.
Whether you are a mum of three, re-entering the workplace after giving birth, or just thinking about starting a family, introducing your career to your motherhood poses a daunting new reality for many women and mothers in the UK. Many self help books harp on about ‘juggling’ your work/life balance, illustrating a difficult balancing act
that never lets up or gets easier. `

Asare instead focuses on ‘The Blend’ of the two and how they can work in harmony, not opposition. Weaving together a comprehensive and easy to follow guide for new or aspiring mothers in the workplace she meticulously breaks down the common struggles mothers face while chasing their careers, and provides valuable insight on how to thrive, not just survive.

Asare allows her work to speak for itself. As the founder of My Bump Pay, an online platform that provides mothers with the relevant information and support to ensure they are not exploited by their employers during some of their most vulnerable and underrepresented months. It is obvious that Asare’s hard-earned wisdom has paid off, as well as the advice and tips from other flourishing, career-driven mothers who prove success stories are possible and probable with a little bit of help.

Onyeka and the Rise of the Rebels by Tola Okogwu

Publication Date: 2nd March 2023
Publisher: Simon and Schuster

When Onyeka finds that the afro that has turned heads and invited ridicule by her peers has psychokinetic powers, she finds that her life will never be the same again.

In this second instalment of the Onyeka middle grade series, Onyeka and her superpowered friends find themselves on the run after exposing the nefarious intentions of their head teacher at The Academy, Dr Doyinbo. The Academy of the Sun, a rich and vibrant school in Nigeria for the Super-powered Solari people.

Fans of the series would have been introduced to the Solari who are still in danger. Worse still, Onyeka’s parents are still missing. With new foe’s revealing themselves at every turn, and known enemies closing in on the places Onyeka assumed safe, we rejoin Onyeka’s story as she navigates the intricacies of trusting a new group of allies, a group of rebels dubbed: The Rogues.

Will Onyeka and her friends be able to band together and defeat a new looming evil, or will it all be too late?
Onyeka and the Rise of the Rebels is a delightful story for children of all ages.

Okogwu expands upon her already rich and complex world, bringing in higher stakes and new perspectives.

Praise for Onyeka and the Rise of the Rebels:
“An incredible story that reinvents the concept of a school for magical kids. So inspiring and creatively original.” – L. D. Lapinski, author of The Strangeworlds Travel Agency

Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks
Publication Date: 2nd March 2023
Publisher: Johnathan Cape

A woman lost and found in music. The Crypt, an underground club in an industrial town just outside of London is where our protagonist Yamaye spends most of her weekends. She and her friends party and drink and lose themselves to the music, dub specifically, forgetting their sometimes aimless existence in the real world. The dark and sometimes dingy basements provide Yamaye with a safety blanket where she can finally feel at peace, one with herself, her friends and her past.

This found freedom is threatened however, when her relationship with Moose, a man she falls irrevocably in love with, abruptly comes to an end. The place Yamaye once felt autonomy and the person that provided comfort and escape is gone, leaving her unmoored and drifting through life. This prompts a life-changing journey of self-discovery where she is initially led to Bristol, a city torn apart by police riots, and finally Jamaica, where she is forced to reckon with her past and its place in her present.

Jacqueline Crooks pairs a heartfelt and relatable story of losing oneself with engaging and real settings across the UK and Caribbean. Its result is a touching story with a real lesson to be learnt from its main character.

Praise for Fire Rush:

“Wrought with an incredible precision and a musicality which carries every sentence” – Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of Open Water.

Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah
Publication Date: 16th March 2023
Publisher: Penguin Random House

Is home always where the heart is?

Meet Efe and Sam, the perfect couple to everyone around them. Sam is a focussed and pragmatic half Ghanaian man, set on a career in law and a life in the place he knows is his home; The UK. Efe, on the other hand, has just arrived in the UK from Ghana and is struggling to reconcile her aspirations of being an art curator with her parents’
expectations and the stark realities of the UK. After years spent as friends, the two find themselves falling in love and settle into marriage and starting a family. They have the true fairytale ending. Only this is not where Krystle Zara Appiah ends her novel.

The couple are challenged with another, unplanned, pregnancy that results in vastly differing views on family and settling down. Sam is seemingly getting everything he dreamed of, a stable marriage, growing family and flourishing career, while Efe finds herself in more and more of a nightmare as motherhood and its obligations begin to weigh on her.

When Efe flees back to Ghana, leaving Sam and their child in the UK, she has to decide which life is the one for her, the “perfect” marriage, or a life she once thought she lost, regained in Ghana where her art can come first.

A devastating story that forces its reader to really ask themselves what they deem most important.

Ada’s Realm by Sharon Dodua Otoo
Publication Date: 28th March 2023
Publisher: S. Fischer

Where is Ada? When is Ada? Who is Ada?

In Sharon Dodua Otoo’s novel, our main character Ada is not just one person, but an amalgamation of stories, a culmination of a woman’s life throughout the ages. Ada is not just one story with a beginning, middle and end, instead she is our story, a collective experience, the everywoman.

When we first collide with Ada, she is living in a small village in soon-to-be Ghana. She has given birth multiple times and again and again the baby does not survive. Her grief is interrupted by the introduction of Portuguese traders, the first white men in her village and a signal for the terrible changes that are soon to come for Ada and her kin. As we follow her story and the centuries progress, Ada will transform into a mathematical genius, a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, and a pregnant Ghanaian woman seeking a new start in Berlin in 2019. Ada is everywhere and everyone.

Follow along as Ada flits from timeline to timeline, experiencing womanhood in all of its forms, as all of its people.

Praise for Ada’s Realm:

“A work of fierce imagination, by turns visceral, measured and experimental.” – Nii Ayikwei Parkes