Boi Boi Is Dead, but his spirit still walks the Earth, observing the effects of his demise on those closest to him and playing the trumpet melodies that earned him fame for a while (cool-with-bite Afro-jazz, composed by Michael Henry). The setting is urban Zimbabwe – huge African spaces stretched across the stage by Emma Chapman’s sunlight-and-dust lighting. Francisco Rodriguez-Weil’s cutouts tumble rooftop skylines and cleverly play with scale to exaggerate impressions of ex

Leeds-based, Zimbabwe-born young playwright Zodwa Nyoni’s first full-length play is a triumph. 
 At the opening night in the Courtyard Theatre the audience was hugely supportive and Nyoni deserved the extended applause at the end of what is a very assured and mature debut exploring the dynamics of a complex family set-up in Zimbabwe. Miriam is lover to (recently deceased) charismatic jazz musician Boi Boi, mother to son Petu (the product of a previous relationship) and surrog

Developed after a year-long Channel 4 writer’s residency at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Zodwa Nyoni’s first full-length play opens the new season here with a compelling story of cultural collision that also deals with the intergenerational interplay between parental ties and youthful aspiration. It is a freshly minted statement from this Leeds-based writer, who skilfully interconnects universal themes with her Zimbabwean heritage, framed through vibrant characters and a plot ce

The most powerful weapon in a wannabe playwright’s arsenal? Lists, and lots of them, writes Zodwa Nyoni When I started writing for theatre in 2010 I was coming at it from a poetry background. Five years earlier, aged 16, I joined Leeds Young Authors, a community-based poetry organisation, and over the following years I performed and competed nationally and internationally in poetry slams. I had poems published and took part in various projects and productions.....Read more on

The design of this first full length play, Boi Boi is Dead by Zodwa Nyoni, is the clue to grasping its unusual and delicate dramatic logic; at once full of realism and yet carefully sketched in a series of episodes, tableaux even, each building towards the emotional heart cry that concludes the play. Francisco Rodriguez-Weil sets the play against a vibrant sky – as though an engraving, a silhouette of shapes – both those made by the actors (beautifully directed by Lucian Msam