Black Power Desk

1970s London. Two sisters divided by grief and radical politics, motivated by love but will their fight for the community be worth the damage to their sisterhood?

A Brixton House and PlayWell Productions co-production, in association with Birmingham Hippodrome and Lowry

An Original Musical, World Premiere.

1970s London. 

The streets awash with a fever of political unrest, the rhythm of the sound system culture is birthing a new era of soulful lover’s rock, fusing RnB and reggae, amidst the covert Black Power Desk operations of New Scotland Yard. As tensions rise, the community rallies together to stand against injustices and racial divide. 

“The day you were born Black was the day politics was made your thing.” 

BLACK POWER DESK is a powerful reimagining and exploration of what it means to love and fight for freedom. In an often male-dominated world, two sisters, Celia and Dina – both rooted in self-empowerment and fiercely committed to their community, both loyal and motivated by love – are divided by grief and radical politics. 

A moving story of sisters who need to reconnect for the sake of their community. But will the fight for their community be worth the damage to their sisterhood? 

Inspired by the historic Mangrove Nine and other influential activists and brought to life by an original score performed by a live three-piece band, BLACK POWER DESK is a musical soundtrack charting a fiercely emotive and politically charged era of often overlooked British history for today’s generation. At a time of the rise of British Black Panthers, the onset of the Immigration Act 1971, the emergence of Black business ownership and the hails of a generation living through the racial tensions of Great Britain. 

“Don’t let it be for nothing so breathe and don’t ask permission.”