Nitrobeat is a British theatre company, founded in 1979 as the Black Theatre Co-operative by the playwright

Mustapha Matura Mustapha Matura (17 December 1939 – 29 October 2019) was a Trinidadian playwright living in London. Characterised by critic Michael Billington as "a pioneering black playwright who opened the doors for his successors", Matura was the first Br ...

and the director

Charlie Hanson Charlie Hanson is a British producer and director. His award-winning work includes television shows such as ''Desmond's'', ''Chef!'', ''The Big Impression'', ''The Sketch Show'' and ''Whites'', and the 2003 feature film '' A Way of Life''. Car ...

. Early performers with the company included the actor

Trevor Laird Trevor Laird is an English actor. Biography Born in Islington, London. Laird trained at the Anna Scher Theatre. Early roles included a 1976 role in a TV adaptation of the Peter Prince novel ''Playthings'', directed by Stephen Frears, and sev ...

. The company's first production was of Matura's play ''Welcome Home Jacko'' which was staged in "The Factory", a disused building in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

renovated for the company's use. The production was later revived in New York and the company has performed in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

as well as touring extensively across the UK. The company's artistic directors have included Felix Cross,

Joan Ann Maynard Joan Ann Maynard is a British actress who has worked both on stage and on television. Her most notable roles are as Avice in the 1975 series ''Within These Walls'' and as Beverley in the Channel Four television comedy show ''Desmond's'', which ra ...

and current Director Diane Morgan. Nitrobeat has been a resident company at London's

Soho Theatre The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The the ...

since 2015.

References

{{Reflist Arts organizations established in 1979 Black British culture in London Black theatre Theatre companies in the United Kingdom