Birmingham Poet Laureate, Casey Bailey’s hit new play will tour to twelve venues across the West Midlands thanks to funding from the Sir Barry Jackson Trust

The cast of GrimeBoy outside Birmingham University’s Curzon Building - one of the stops on the tour

As a run of sold-out performances concludes this Saturday, Birmingham Rep have announced that their hit production of GrimeBoy will tour to twelve community venues around the West Midlands thanks to funding from the Sir Barry Jackson Trust.

GrimeBoy is written by Birmingham’s Poet Laureate, Casey Bailey and follows a set of friends and adversaries through Birmingham’s grime music scene. The production is directed by The Rep’s Associate Director Madeleine Kludje and designed by Ebrahim Nazier.

The tour will visit venues in the region with a priority to play for young audiences who may have limited access to live performance and visit localities such as Smethwick, Rugeley, Worcester, Selly Oak and Wolverhampton. All tickets will be either free or low cost thanks to the support of the Sir Barry Jackson Trust. 

Director, Madeleine Kludje said; “It has been fantastic to see our run of GrimeBoy at The Rep received so enthusiastically by audiences, with standing ovations at every performance. Now,  we get to share this superb show and piece of writing with young audiences across the West Midlands - bringing thrilling, relevant theatre to them in venues and spaces on their doorstep.”

The original cast of Grimeboy will feature in the tour including Keiren Hamilton Amos as GrimeBoy, Corey Weekes as Jay, Alexander Lobo Moreno as Blue and Auden Allen as DJ. Keiren Hamilton Amos is an alumnus of Birmingham City University’s Applied Theatre School of Acting, one of the venues which the tour will visit. 

The full list of venues on the tour is; Dorothy Parkes Centre Smethwick (3 May), Birmingham City University Curzon Building (4 May), Cadbury College (5 May), Rugeley Rose Theatre (6 May), Legacy Centre of Excellence (7 May), The Hive for Worcester University (8 May), SENSE Touchbase Pears (10 May), West Bromwich Library (11 May), Free@Last Nechells (12 May), Newhampton Arts Centre (13 May), Old Print Works Balsall Heath (14 May), Tipton Muslim Community Centre (15 May). Further details for each venue are listed on The Rep website at birmingham-rep.co.uk.

For more information on the Sir Barry Jackson Trust visit sirbarryjackson.org.uk.