Recognition at Fairfield Halls

Recognition is the major new production from Talawa Theatre Company, bringing to light the incredible life and legacy of Black composer and Croydon resident Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who was hugely successful in the Edwardian and Victorian eras, with admirers including President Roosevelt and Edward Elgar, but who is now not as well-known as his contemporaries. Talawa, the UK’s outstanding Black theatre company, is presenting Recognition as part of the Mayor of London’s London Borough of Culture 2023 – This Is Croydon.

Paul Adeyefa will play Coleridge-Taylor, with Kibong Tanji as Song, a young Black composer who discovers Coleridge-Taylor and learns she is joining a legacy of Black classical music in Britain she never knew existed. Recognition is co-created by Amanda Wilkin and Rachael Nanyonjo, written by Wilkin and directed by Nanyonjo. The show, at Fairfield Halls this June, will feature original music by Mercury Prize-nominated Cassie Kinoshi, as well as Coleridge-Taylor’s compositions.

David Monteith joins the cast with Barnaby Power, Matthew Romain, Alice Stokoe and Deborah Tracey. A band of musicians will bring the compositions to life, comprising British-Nigerian violinist Eve Abiodun, award-winning bassist Rio Kai, organist and jazz pianist Jonathan Liebeck, cellist Austen Scully, drummer Shakira Stellar and violinist Mikey Tsoukkas.