Ayesha Kundi 
A Vital Xposure Production in association with Bush Theatre has announced the cast and crew of blackbird hour, running from 30th January to 1st March. The production, written by babirye bukilwa directed by malakaï sargeant, stars Danielle Kassaraté, Evlyne Oyedokun, Ivan Oyik and Olivia Nakintu.
The production is a visceral and moving exploration of a queer Black woman’s call to arms for loving oneself when love has made itself scarce.
babirye bukilwa is an actor and writer for stage, audio, and screen. Their first play, …blackbird hour, was shortlisted for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting in 2019, the inaugural Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2020, and the Alfred Fagon Award 2020. The play they wrote as its prequel, …cake, was presented at Theatre Peckham and was nominated for the Alfred Fagon Award in 2021. They co-directed their play The Master’s House with Chris Sonnex for the National Youth Theatre in 2021, which was shortlisted for the George Devine Award 2022, and developed it into an audio drama for Talawa Stories on BBC Radio 4. In 2022 two of their short plays were presented, YUMMY, as part of the Burn It Down festival at Theatre Royal Stratford East and 616: DAWN as part of Talking about a Revolution at Watford Palace, Lyric Hammersmith Studio and Bristol Old Vic. babirye is currently under commission to the Yard Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre.
Director malakaï sargeant is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and producer from pre-gentrified northeast London. Led by curiosity and care, malakaï works across theatre, festivals, literature, audio, and live events– creating and interrogating through an unapologetically Afroqueer lens. Their work is often non-linear, employing unconventional forms that disrupt notions of time and space; orbiting around ideas of Black interiority, hood surrealism, and carceral geographies.
Evlyne Oyedokun plays Eshe. Evlyne is an African Caribbean Autistic Actress who graduated from RADA in 2016. Her theatre credits include Autistic as Fuck (Barbican 2024), Cinderella (Northern Stage 2023), An Inspector Calls (UK world tour 2022) and One Under (Graeae 2019). Her film / TV credits include RIPD2 (Netflix 2022) and Kirkmoore (BBC3).
Olivia Nakintu plays Ella. Olivia attended London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art. Her credits include the role of Zadie in the short film Mango directed by Joan Iyiola, Esther in BBC 1’s, Better, Jay in BBC 1’s, Am I Being Unreasonable, and Amber in ITV’s Vera.
Ivan Oyik plays Michael. His recent credits include by their fruits (Initiative.dkf/Theatre503) and Ludwig (BBC One). Ivan’s first professional opportunity was Blue/Orange directed by Daniel Bailey for which he was nominated for The Stage Debut Award. Other credits include Shook (Southwark Playhouse), Red Pitch (Oval House), and a three-episode story arc in Doctors (BBC).
Danielle Kassaraté plays Sissy. Danielle’s credits include The Architect (Greenwich Docklands Festival/ATC), I Wonder If (Young Vic), Till Death Do Us Part (Theatre 503), Cake (Theatre Peckham), The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time (Gielgud/International Tour), The Color Purple (Birmingham Hippodrome/Leicester Curve), Macbeth (Queen’s Hornchurch), and Wildfire (Hampstead).
Get your tickets here: https://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/event/blackbird-hour/
WRITTEN BY: Nura Arooj
