Review: Brixton Calling, Southwark Playhouse

In 1983, Andrew Parkes (Max Runham) blagged his way into buying a disused cinema at 211 Stockwell Road for just £1. Over the next decade, he and his team transformed it into a venue that’s still going today, adored by its frequent visitors – Brixton Academy.

Inspired by Parkes’ memoir, Kick it Out Productions presents Brixton Calling, Parkes and his team’s ten years running the Academy, from its first gig to Parkes’ crowning glory: the Boss, Bruce Springsteen, playing on his stage. There’s an infectious energy to it, a joy in being at a play that so perfectly captures the essence of a gig. Alex Urwin’s script really gets across the delight of being in a crowd (standing) at Brixton when a band you love takes to the stage and the music kicks off.

Brixton Calling is rooted in the history of Brixton itself – a time when many doubted that people would be willing to travel south of the river. Those doubts would be slowly dispelled as Parkes began to build a reputation, booking early grassroots acts that soon grew into major names like UB40 and The Clash. Parkes also opened the doors to political causes, turning the Academy into a space for activism as well as music – from miners’ strike to anti-apartheid gigs. Long before corporate sponsorship and mobile phone branded stages took over the live music scene, Brixton Academy stood as a defiantly independent venue with a radical edge. Brixton Calling doesn’t just tell Parkes’ story – it captures the spirit of a building that came alive through the people who passed through its doors and the culture it helped shape.

Runham captures all of Parkes: the posh schoolboy born with a silver spoon, but also the cheeky chappy who wheels and deals his way into taking over the Academy in return for all of its debts and an exclusive beer license. Crucially, he shows these nuanced contradictions within Parkes; the charm and privilege of someone from a well-off background, combined with the guts and nerve it took to risk everything on a crumbling venue. What really stands out is how Runham handles the shifting tone of the play. He moves easily from moments of humour – often poking fun at Parkes’ naivety or bravado – to moments of real vulnerability.

The programme describes the choice made by director Bronagh Lagan to encourage Urwin to adapt this not as a monologue but to bring in more voices. Tendai Sitima plays multiple supporting roles (and provides original compositions), most notably Johnny Lawes, the Academy’s first booker. Sitima really excels in a later powerful scene during Brixton riots, when Parkes and Lawes are arrested and subjected to violence and racist abuse by the police.

Throughout, there is a tight connection between music through a live score (musical supervisor Jamie Clarke, sound by Max Pappenheim) and occasional singing, performed by the cast themselves. It spans reggae, punk, rave and rock, acting as both backdrop and emotional driver as well as showing how time goes on. It’s cleverly done, tying everything to the music, the thing that still keeps the Academy going even now more than 40 years later. There’s only one slight misstep, being that as the story moves into the 90s and rave and drug culture comes to the forefront, the music becomes too loud, and dialogue is muffled and overwhelmed.

Parkes’s memoir is fully titled Live at the Brixton Academy: A Riotous Life in the Music Business, and it’s more than fair to say that Runham and Sitima capture that riotous life bringing an equally riotous energy to their characters. Go see this play, read Parkes’ book, and perhaps go book a ticket (standing of course) for something coming up at Brixton Academy.

Written by: Alex Urwin
Directed by: Bronagh Lagan

Brixton Calling plays at Southwark Playhouse until Saturday 16 August