Black Superhero… a comedic portrait of one man’s life playing at Royal Court Jerwood Theatre
Emmy Award-winner Dyllón Burnside, star of Netflix’s Pose and Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, will make his London debut as the eponymous black superhero of Lee Wynter’s play.
The play by Danny Lee Wynter, known for his Olivier Award-nominated acting career, is a brutal, unflinching and funny portrait of one man’s life spiralling out of control, in an age where our idols are kings and our superheroes gods.
Daniel Evans’ direction sees the culmination of a 20-year working relationship between himself and Danny Lee Wynter, and his first time directing for the Royal Court Theatre.
Danny Lee Wynter said: “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 story.”
Black Superhero will run at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from March 14 to April 29.
Website: https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/black-superhero/
Picture: Black Superhero Picture: Ajamu X
