Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Fri 28 May to Sat 19 Jun 2004

PLAYHOUSE

“That’s what’s the matter with you all, you satisfied sitting in one place. You got to move on down the road from where you sitting.”

Chicago 1927.  The city where you keep out of Al Capone’s way while you listen to Louis Armstrong. While Prohibition-era speakeasies dispense illicit hooch and rip-roaring jazz, a bunch of musicians sit around a recording studio, chewing the fat while they await the arrival of Blues legend, Ma Rainey. What do they talk about? Just the usual stuff: family histories, racism, love, the meaning of life. And, in wildcat trumpeter Levee’s case, the burning desire to change the world with his music.

Company

Cast Alan Cooke, Barry McCormick, Chipo Chung, Cornelius Macarthy, Ewin Cummins, Louis Emerick, Melanie La Barrie, Nicholas Beveney, Paul Regan & Vincent Marzello

Director Gemma Bodinetz

Musical Director Akintayo Akinbode

Designer Bruce Macadie

Lighting Designer Natasha Chivers

Sound Designer John Leonard

Voice and Dialect Coach Terry Besson

Fight Director Paul Benzing

Costume Supervisor Brian D Hanlon

Writer August Wilson

Reviews

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

★★★★
"Gemma Bodinetz’s evocative, handsomely acted revival"

The Guardian

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

"Gemma Bodinetz allows the story to tell itself, her understated production switching convincingly between the two worlds, straddling the divide between the money-making bosses and the music making workers”

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

“Melanie La Barrie as Ma sings gloriously (and provides a storming acting performance)”

Daily Post