By Grace Hatchell
Forty years in theatre deserves rather more than a cake and a few balloons.
So Talawa Theatre Company is taking over Hackney Empire for one extraordinary evening celebrating four decades of Black British theatre – and they’re bringing quite a few familiar faces along for the occasion.
Talawa Iconic takes place on 13 October 2026, bringing together artists and productions from across the company’s history for a 40th anniversary showcase looking back at Talawa’s influence on British theatre.
And when you’ve got 40 years to squeeze into one evening, you need to choose your highlights carefully.
The programme stretches all the way back to Talawa’s inaugural production, The Black Jacobins, in 1986. Audiences will also revisit The Importance of Being Earnest from 1989, Yvonne Brewster OBE’s history-making Antony & Cleopatra from 1991 and more recent productions including King Lear, Girls, Run It Back, A Place for We, Recognition, Play On! and 2026’s Fragments of Us.
Music from Chineke! Quartet will accompany the performances.
That’s quite a theatrical family album.
Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE will open the evening, before a line-up of Talawa performers past and present takes audiences through some of the company’s defining work.
Tameka Empson returns to the Hackney Empire stage alongside longstanding Talawa actor Ben Thomas to revisit Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. Thomas’s relationship with Talawa stretches back three decades.
Playwright Theresa Ikoko will showcase an excerpt from her award-winning Girls, the story of three friends whose relationship is tested after they are kidnapped from their Nigerian hometown.
There’s a particularly important connection here. Talawa initially supported Ikoko through its Talawa Firsts programme before going on to produce Girls, which won the Alfred Fagon Award. The programme continues today, supporting new voices entering the industry.
David Webber and Laurence Ubong Williams reunite for A Place for We, while Lifford Shillingford will perform from Talawa’s musical revival Play On!.
But perhaps one of the evening’s most significant homecomings belongs to Doña Croll.
Croll will return to Antony & Cleopatra and the role with which she made theatre history in 1991, becoming the first Black actor to play Cleopatra professionally on the British stage.
The original production was directed by Talawa co-founder Yvonne Brewster OBE, and the anniversary evening will include special tributes celebrating the woman who helped establish the company.
Talawa itself began in 1986, founded by Black artists and activists Yvonne Brewster OBE, Mona Hammond OBE, Carmen Munroe DBE and Inigo Espejel in response to the lack of opportunities available to Black actors on British stages.
Four decades later, its mission continues: creating opportunities, championing Black creative talent and working towards a theatre industry that better represents the country it serves.
Artistic Director Michael Buffong describes bringing so many artists together for the anniversary as a “real joy and privilege”, with the evening designed to demonstrate the breadth of the talent and stories Talawa has worked with over the years.
And perhaps that’s what makes a 40th anniversary like this particularly interesting.
It’s tempting to look at a theatre company’s history through productions, posters and dates. But really, it’s people.
The artists who were given an opportunity. The performers who came back. The writers whose work found an audience. And then the next generation who walked through the same door.
For one night at Hackney Empire, quite a few of those generations will share the same stage.
Forty years down.
Here’s to whatever comes next.
Grace x
Talawa Iconic takes place at Hackney Empire on Tuesday 13 October 2026. The Black Carpet begins at 6pm, with the showcase starting at 7pm. Tickets are £40, with £20 tickets available for under-25s and residents of Croydon and Hackney.
Talawa Iconic: 40 Year Anniversary Showcase | Talawa
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