”Pose” star Dyllón Burnside to make London stage debut in Danny Lee Wynter’s ”Black Superhero”
© Ajamu X (right)
Emmy Award winner Dyllón Burnside (Pose) is set to make his London stage debut in Danny Lee Wynter’s Black Siperhero.
Directed by Daniel Evans, the new play follows one man’s life as it spirals out of control, in an age where our superheroes are gods.
Burnside will play the eponymous black superhero in a cast that also includes Wynter (the playwright), Ben Allen, Dominic Holmes, Eloka Ivo, Ako Mitchel and Rochenda Sandall.
Wynter commented: “I am deeply honoured that the Royal Court has chosen to stage my debut play, Black Superhero. I feel lucky to have this extraordinarily accomplished group of artists come together to tell this story about a messy, funny, complicated, often savage group of queer friends who drive a man towards his own journey of healing and self-acceptance. I wanted to write a big, epic story that asks difficult questions about who and where we are.
“Black Superhero is a love letter to the theatre. A subversion of the historical notion that a black, gay man – both in art and the world – is merely an adjunct, a side-note, an unserious man or a source only of amusement. He can, of course, be fun, but he’s also many other things; things the world has made him; things he has learnt to be for his own survival. I wanted to place him front and centre at the heart of the kind of narrative that many of us brown boys who like men have, for the most part, been culturally starved of since we entered the world. I have tried to present his myriad flaws, his fears, his sensuality, his intimate desires. To celebrate him, and those like him, by ultimately allowing him to own all of it; by becoming the hero of his own story.”
The production features designs by Joanna Scotcher, costumes by Kinnetia Isidore, lighting by Ryan Day, sound by Tingying Dong, movement direction by Gerrard Martina and intimacy coordination by Yarit Dor. The assistant director is Matthew Iliffe and the associate costume designer/costume supervisor is Zoë Thomas-Webb.
Black Superhero runs at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from 14 March to 29 April 2023, with a press night set for 21 March.
