Okay, so I got here via a rather unorthodox route: born in Trinidad; moved to England aged 1; went to school in South London (Sutton, Mitcham, Tooting, Epsom Art College); guitarist in rock, jazz bands; songwriter; stand-up comic; music teacher (Goldsmiths College); then discovered theatre at the Albany Empire where realised I had always been trying to write musical-theatre without knowing it; 1996 got the job as Artistic Director of Black Theatre Co-op, which became Nitro. I left after 19 extraordinary and fulfilling years.

 

Now I'm enjoying a life of directing, composing and flying rather too much between Sydney and London. Re-reading this it doesn't seem such an unorthodox route after all - it's the only one I could have taken. 

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Got an MBE in 2012 for services to musical theatre; as a wobbly socialist republican this was a conflict but as an artist I was immensely grateful for the nomination from my peers. You can see a full list of the work I've done in the CV section

On a personal level, I'm married to the formidable and rather gorgeous Kristine Landon-Smith and we have two boys, Louis and Ishan - both equally formidable in their own ways.

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Book, Music & Lyrics:

Blues For Railton (Albany Empire); Glory! (Temba/Derby Playhouse - winner 1988 LWT Plays On Stage); Mass Carib (Albany Empire/South Bank/national no1 tour/Trafalgar Square/Greenwich & Docklands Festival); Visions Of Youth (Nubian Nights); Passports To The Promised Land (NITRO/Sheffield Theatres)

 

Music & Lyrics:

Jack and The Beanstalk (Albany Empire); Pinchy Kobi & the Seven Duppies (The Posse/Tricycle/Stratford East -lyrics co-written with the Posse); The Bottle Imp (Major Road - book by Graham Devlin); Jekyll & Hyde (Major Road National tour - book by Graham Devlin; Music Theatre Group Amsterdam, tour of Holland 2004); Tricksters Payback (Black Theatre Co-operative – book by Martin Glynn); The Evocation of Papa Mas’ (Told by an Idiot/NITRO – story by John Wright) Wuthering Heights (Tamasha – music co-written by Sheema Mukherjee).

 

Books:

Up Against The Wall (Black Theatre Co-op/Nitro - co-written with Paulette Randall 1999; 2009): Blood Wedding (adaptation BBC R4): Slamdunk (NITRO); The Wedding Dance (NITRO 2007; 2008)

 

Music:

Integration Octet (commissioned by the Eastern Orchestral Board, for string quartet and steel pan quartet -Aldeburgh/Royal Festival Hall/Derby Proms)

 

Music for plays:

King Lear (Albany Empire); Romeo and Juliet (Albany Empire); Miss Julie (dir. Dominic Cooke); Rumpelstiltskin (Nottingham Playhouse);Waiting For Godot (Lyric Hammersmith); Macbeth (English Shakespeare Company -Africa tour); Pecong (Tricycle); Three Sisters (Chichester); Time & The Room (Gate Theatre); Gulp Fiction (Geestor Productions); The Orchestra (Southwark Theatre); Music for the entire canon of Agatha Christie’s plays at the Palace Theatre Westcliffe-on-Sea (all 23 of them); Ghostdancing (Tamasha); Ryman & The Sheik (Tamasha); Macbeth (Out of Joint; national and world tour); Strictly Dandia – additional music (Tamasha); High Heel Parrotfish – composer and MD (TRSE, Talawa, NITRO); Talking To Terrorists (Out of Joint); A Fine Balance (Tamasha); O Go My Man (Out of Joint/Royal Court); Overwhelming (RNT/Out of Joint;) Convicts’ Opera – Musical Director/Composer (Out of Joint/Sydney Theatre Co); Mixed Up North (Out of Joint); Desert Boy (NITRO); The House of Bilquis Bibi (Tamasha); Inkle & Yarico (New Wolsey Theatre); The Arrival (Circus Space, Tamasha); Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (National Theatre/Talawa); Blood Wedding (NIDA); Voices of Warringah (Glen St Theatre, Sydney); Between Us (Australian Theatre for Young People, Sydney).

 

Music for Radio:

Obeah (BBC R4 ); Midsummer Night's Dream (BBC World Service); Blood Wedding (BBC R4); Fall From Grace (BBC R4); The Orchestra (BBC R4); Hideous Kinky (BBC R4); Muse of Fusion (BBC R4); Dragon Can't Dance (Forge Prod. for BBC R4); The Protege (Catherine Bailey for BBC R4); Calcutta Kosher (BBC R4); The Darker Face of the Earth (BBC World Service); Talking to Terrorists (BBC R3); Lysistrata (BBC World Service); Small Island (BBC R4)

 

Music for Television/Film:

Inside Story (BBC 2); Reunion (BBC 2); Here And Now (Central); Midnight Feast (short film – Tamasha Films)

 

Directing:

Ten years as Director of Fusions, an annual young people’s performance with Thamesdown Dance Trust; This Joint Is Jumping (Wyvern, Swindon); The Pan Beaters (Greenwich); Iced (Black Theatre Co-op/Nottingham Playhouse); Island Whispers (BBC R4); Sweet Rugged Mystery (BBC R4); Various productions for the annual NITRObeat festivals; Slamdunk (with Benji Reid, NITRO); Mass Carib to the Promised Land (WAC @ Roundhouse); Mass Carib at Trafalgar Square; An African Cargo (NITRO); An Evening of Soul Food (NITRO); The Wedding Dance (NITRO); Desert Boy (NITRO) Concrete & Steel (Kompany Malakhi/NITRO); Rainbirds & Drumbeats (East Midlands Carnival Arts Network, Nitro, Nottingham Playhouse); The Prophet: Remix (Nitro, BYDS at Bankstown Arts Centre, Sydney); Leyla & Majnun (Blacktown Arts Centre, Sydney).

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