We’re excited to share details of new post-show events for BEAUTIFUL THING taking place in September and October.

Following the evening performance on Thu 28 Sep, Travis Alabanza (Burgerz, Sound of the Underground, Overflow) will host a panel discussion with Jonathan Harvey (writer of BEAUTIFUL THING) and Topher Campbell (Battyman, The Homecoming, FETISH).

On Fri 06 Oct, Rikki Beadle-Blair (Blackbird, Stonewall, Metrosexuality) will host a talk with Anthony Simpson-Pike (director of BEAUTIFUL THING) and cast members from the production. This will also take place after the performance.

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THU 28 SEP (BSL-interpreted performance)
Hosted by Travis Alabanza
With Jonathan Harvey and Topher Campbell
BSL interpreter: Peter Abraham 
Book tickets to the performance

FRI 06 OCT
Hosted by Rikki Beadle-Blair
With Anthony Simpson-Pike and members of the company
Book tickets to the performance

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TRAVIS ALABANZA 
Travis is a writer, performer and theatre-maker from Bristol. Their writing, performance and public discourse centres on trans and Black identities.

For stage, Travis wrote and performed in their debut show Burgerz which won the Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well as selling out venues including Southbank Centre and Traverse Theatre. It was also voted one of The Guardian Readers Top Shows of The Year and is published by Oberon Books. Most recently, their play Overflow, which premiered at and streamed from The Bush, was met with critical acclaim including numerous four-star reviews and 4,000 streams worldwide.

For screen, Travis is under commission from Lookout Point to develop a TV comedy drama. Travis’ work has also appeared on BBC Front Row, The Verb and in 2019 they hosted their first radio documentary Going to The Gay Bar for BBC Radio Four.

Their work has also earned them a place on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list 2021, on the Evening Standard’s list of 25 most influential Londoners under 25 and on the Dazed100 list.

RIKKI BEADLE-BLAIR
Rikki Beadle-Blair MBE is a writer, director, composer, choreographer, designer, producer and performer.  He has won several awards including the Sony Award, the Los Angeles Outfest Screenwriting and Outstanding Achievement awards.  Every year he hosts UK Black Pride, Manchester Black Pride, Plus annual Vogue balls in Manchester Liverpool Birmingham Leeds and other cities around the UK. 2016 he was made an MBE (Member of the British Empire) by HRH Queen Elizabeth and King Charles for contributions to drama and an honorary doctor of letters from the University of Warwick. His projects include several feature films and TV series, including ‘Blackbird’ starring Oscar-winning actress, Mo’nique, ‘Stonewall’ for the BBC, Metrosexuality for Channel 4,’ Noah’s Arc for MTV LOGO as well as FIT, KickOff and Bashment for his own company Team Angelica.  He is one of the creative directors of the Visionary Youth Project for young European Film Activists. Rikki also works extensively in theatre and has written 40 plays in the last 20 years that have been performed at Theatre Royal Stratford East, the Bush Theatre, the Soho Theatre, the Tristan Bates Theatre and the Contact Theatre in Manchester. Rikki is a committed mentor to a great many writers, actors, composers and directors. He has an honorary doctorate from Warwick University.

TOPHER CAMPBELL
Afro-Queer Artist/Filmmaker Topher Campbell’s output spans film, theatre, performance, writing, and site-specific work. He makes bold and exciting work focusing on sexuality, masculinity, race, human rights, memoir and climate change. Alumni of the Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme In 2005 he was recipient of the Jerwood Directors Award and nominated for the 2011 What’s On Stage Theatre Event of the Year Award. In 2017 he was longlisted for the inaugural Spread the Word Life Writing Prize for his forthcoming memoir Battyman. 

In 2000 he co-founded rukus! Federation a Black Queer arts collective with photographer Ajamu X. This culminated in the internationally recognised rukus! Archive currently held in the London Metropolitan Archives. The rukus! Archive won the 2008 Landmark Archive Award. His theatre workHis films have appeared in festivals worldwide including his first film The Homecoming - a meditation on art, masculinity and sexuality, featuring commentary by Stuart Hall. His film FETISH, a collaboration with 2014  Mercury Music Prize Winners Young Fathers, is shot on the streets of New York. It was premiered at the Barbican Centre, London, Official Selection for the 2018 Aesthetica Short Film Festival and 2018 Scottish Queer International Film Festival and 2021 Sheffield DocFEST.

Topher is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Patron of Switchboard and in 2017 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Sussex for his work in the Black LGBTQ+ community. He has directed productions and films for Mountview Academy, Central School of Speech and Drama, Guildhall School of Music and ArtsEd.  His latest film, Moments That Shaped Queer Black Britain is a documentary about UK Black Queer history and culture for B.E.T./Paramount streaming now in the UK.