The Brown Suite, a dance production set to the music of James Brown, Etta James and Sam Cooke, opens a thirteen-venue UK tour at Richmond Theatre on 30 September.
The Brown Suite is directed and choreographed by BlacBrik and set in 1970s New York. Seven characters meet in and around a soul-era dancefloor, where flirtation turns to romance, relationships fracture and the group finds its way back to one another. The music carries the story in place of dialogue.
The score is drawn from recordings by James Brown, Etta James and Sam Cooke, with rights administered by Warner Chappell North America Limited. Joshie Harriette is responsible for both lighting design and scenography, Maybelle Laye for costume design and Max Marchment for sound design. Mark Baldwin OBE is artistic advisor and Jamiel Devernay-Laurence creative producer. Olivia Godwin produces, Will Bridgland is producer and tour manager, and Fundamentally Dance is executive producer.
Wolverhampton Grand Theatre gives the running time as 95 minutes, including a 20-minute interval, with an age guidance of 8+.
The tour dates are:
- 30 September - 3 October: Richmond Theatre
- 5-7 October: Wolverhampton Grand Theatre
- 14 October: Princess Theatre, Torquay
- 16-17 October: Woking New Theatre
- 23 October: Opera House, Manchester
- 24 October: Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent
- 1 November: Aylesbury Waterside
- 3-4 November: Theatre Royal Brighton
- 6-7 November: The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford
- 10 November: Darlington Hippodrome
- 16 November: Fareham Live
- 19-20 November: York Grand Opera House
- 19-22 May: Hackney Empire, London
The May dates fall inside the Hackney Empire’s 125th anniversary season, launched this month with an open house weekend and an exhibition covering the building’s history since 1901.
