For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy

For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy offers up the variegated experiences of young Black men in non-Black spaces.

It works through a masterful weaving of poetry, music and movement, inviting audiences and readers to witness and empathize with the inner lives of every hue of young Black man.

Originally inspired by Ntozake Shange's 1974 poem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf, the play masterfully blends realism with poetic and imaginative elements, and visual with aural spectacle evident in the songs, dance sequences, poetry and dialogue, to create an original and richly textured piece of total theatre.

It was first performed at the New Diorama, London, and was revived in the West End three times subsequently.

The play is published here as a Student Edition alongside commentary and notes by Izuu Nwankwo, who interrogates the play's themes around Black masculinity, identity, community and survival; its use of theatrical form; space and setting; its six main characters; its multi-sensorial texture; and its deliberate absence of stage directions and the implications for performance. It also includes an original interview with Ryan Calais Cameron.

Ryan Calais Cameron is a writer for theatre and TV. His play Typical, which starred Richard Blackwood, sold out its run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019 and its transfer to Soho Theatre Upstairs, garnering 4 star reviews across the board. Queens of Sheba, co-written with Jessica Hagan, won the 2018 Edinburgh Untapped Award. Its four-week run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2018 sold out, garnering 4 and 5 star reviews and winning the Edinburgh Stage Award 2018; it transferred to the New Diorama Theatre, London and it went on national tour in 2019. Ryan was the winner of the 2018 Off West End Adopt A Playwright Award for his play Rhapsody, which was produced at the Arcola in March of that year. Retrograde, which he wrote on his year of 'adoption', was shortlisted for the 2019 Alfred Fagon Award and Verity Bargate Award 2020. Ryan is an alumnus of the Royal Court writer's programme 2017 and the Soho Young Company 2016/17. He has contributed to the Royal Court's Living Newspaper: Edition 2 and is currently under commission to the Royal Court, the Arcola, Soho Theatre and Theatre Centre. Ryan's smash hit For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy was nominated for a 2023 Olivier Award for 'Best New Play'; after its initial New Diorama Theatre run in 2021 and its transfer to London's Royal Court Theatre in 2022, it came to the West End's Apollo Theatre in March 2023 for a sold-out six week run and returned again to the West End's Garrick Theatre for a nine week run starting in February 2024.