Meet The Architect – a 48-year-old Londoner of Caribbean heritage, who has fulfilled his life-long dream of becoming a builder of cities, a maker of dreams.
Step aboard a double decker bus to share that dream with him: a vision for a city of the future – a new way of existing. A blueprint that embraces everyone.
The Architect commemorates the 30th anniversary year of the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence by bringing together a collective of prolific Black theatre-makers to explore and celebrate Black lives and the dreams that accompany them – whilst imagining the blueprint of what a future city could and should be.
In support of the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, this immersive theatrical performance aboard a London double-decker bus, takes passengers on a ride like no other through South East London to Woolwich’s General Gordon Square. Along the way they will encounter storytelling, characters, musicians, steel pan and runners from Stephen’s athletics club – the Cambridge Harriers. Passengers will alight in General Gordon Square where the culmination of the performance will be The Architect’s Dream a free standalone event, providing a collective moment for audiences and the wider community to look forward in hope and to create the future we all want.
Olivier Award-winning director Matthew Xia, Artistic Director of Actors Touring Company (ATC) says: “This is not a play about Stephen Lawrence: but an artistic response to that seismic event in British history in 1993. I have gathered a collective of the most brilliant Black theatre artists to respond to this commemorative moment and as is often the way with such painful events and memories, we want to try to move through the trauma, and the profound loss towards something uplifting and hopeful. We come together in our collective power to celebrate Black lives, hopes and dreams and to imagine an alternative city, designed and inhabited by ‘The Architect’.”
The multi-talented creatives behind The Architect alongside Matthew Xia, are multi-award winning playwrights Roy Williams, Mojisola Adebayo and Bola Agbaje, immersive sound designer XANA and emerging writers Dexter Flanders and Vanessa Macauley.
Roy Williams says: “The very name of Stephen Lawrence brings so much to mind, about race and racism, diversity, class and the rest. Issues that, post-McPherson, post-Brexit, we are still debating. The Architect invites us all to imagine a world that would be a celebration of Black lives, what Britain could be. It’s a way of looking forward for us all.”
Mojisola Adebayo says: “As a Black South East Londoner who grew up in the times and on the streets where Stephen Lawrence walked and waited, there is no greater honour for me than to be invited to write for The Architect. This will be a performance and remembrance that will uplift people and give us joy. That is blackness. It is beautiful. Like the Sankofa bird we look back and fly forward. Even in sorrow, we create something that moves and keeps the movement moving on. Come and get on the bus.”
Bola Agbaje adds: “When you think of Black British history, tragic events are at the forefront. I’m a South Londoner born and raised, so creating a piece of art that travels through an area that holds sad memories for a south Londoner like me, means I get to create new memories. My focus on this project has been to explore the hopes and dreams a mother has of raising a black son in London.”
Board the bus in Deptford
Alight at: General Gordon Square, Woolwich SE18 6FH
Ticket Price: From £12
Booking Link: HERE
Duration: 55 mins
Wed 6 – Fri 8 Sep: 6.30pm and 8.30pm
Sat 9 & Sun 10 Sep: 2.30pm, 6.30pm and 8.30pm
The Architect’s Dream – Free, Outdoor, General Gordon Square, Woolwich
Backed by Steel-Pan music, this free, powerful performance, provides a stand-alone culmination to The Architect right in the heart of Woolwich.
Wed 6 – Fri 8 Sep: 7.20pm and 9.20pm
Sat 9 & Sun 10 Sep: 3.20pm, 7.20pm and 9.20pm
