18
Arts & Culture
mojatu.com
Felix Cross, Theatre Director
Nitro Black Musical Theatre, London
Norma Gregory met Felix Cross,
Artistic Director of NITRO Black Musical
Theatre. Trinidadian born, Felix Cross is
a writer with spirit, passion and armed
with a creative mission. He produced
Nottingham’s first Carnival Queen Show
shown at the Playhouse Nottingham,
Saturday 1 st June 2013.
How did you prepare for the EMCCAN
Nottingham Carnival Queen Show 2013?
We had a casting session at the New Art Exchange,
Nottingham and at the Hyson Green Youth Club
as well as a few drama workshops with the young
people of Nottingham. I am really trying to show
the young people the types of performance we
will be doing in the full rehearsals. We had an
initial session on 18 th May and started full time
rehearsals on the 26 th May, where we rehearsed
Monday to Friday. The show was held at 7pm
on Saturday, 1 st June 2013 at the Playhouse
Nottingham. I wrote the show and engaged with
sponsors and contributors to formulate ideas.
How many actors, dancers and performers
were in the show?
We probably had about 40 talented young people,
ranging from 16-25 years and a few people who
were younger than that, who could be not left out.
The performers were very good. All the performers
and the young people were great ! We did some
improvisation work and it was enlightening for me
to see their energy and performance skills.
How did you explore the idea of carnival
through theatre?
The title for the show was Rainbirds and
Drumbeats. The rainbirds represented the idea
of the flamboyance, the style of costumes and
sheer beauty of the carnival. The drumbeats
represented the slightly edgier side and historical
context of the carnival. The carnival was not
always a colourful celebration, as it has some
very serious side to it. It was about claiming the
streets while reflecting on the roots of coming out
of slavery and so on. Whilst most of the young
people might have had a limited understanding
of all that, we played around with all these issues
Felix Cross, Artistic Director
plus the history of carnival, the current carnivals
and the carnivals in the Caribbean.
Would you class the production more of a
musical or a play?
It was not a play as such and if when you think
of musical you think of a story – it was not
going to be that either. There were performers
who talked directly to the audience and there
were calysponians, rap artists, steel pan artists,
dancers and drummers in the show.
Tell me about Nitro, your theatre company.
Nitro is a small company as there are only four
of us. I am the artistic director while the others
are finance, production and digital marketing
managers. We are a touring company and employ
actors and performers for each production. We
came to Nottingham nearly ten years ago to make
a show called Slam Dunk at the Nottingham
Playhouse – a hip-hop, basketball show set in the
world of basketball and street ball.
How did your career begin?
I have always been a musician. I started as a
guitarist and became a songwriter before moving
into stand-up comedy for a few years. Then
somebody saw me performing and asked me if
I wanted to be in a comedy play. I said yes, and
so I did a bit of acting- not much though as I was
a terrible actor! In 1985, somebody asked if I
wanted to write some songs for a new musical
so I did but I also ended up writing the script.
The show was well received in London and I have
been writing musicals and working in theatres
ever since.
Where did you study to work in theatre?
I did not study through formal education. I picked
things up as I went along. When you starting
working in something you enjoy, you pick up thing
Nottingham connected
so quickly because your mind is open to it.
Who inspires you?
All sorts of people inspire me. Usually it’s not big
figure heads like Nelson Mandela, Bob Marley etc.
As a writer, I have an idea for a subject matter. For
example, I am working on four different shows at
the moment. One of them is a very tragic piece
called Requiem for a Witch Child. It is about
children who are abused because people believe
they are possessed by evil spirits. Artists are not
writing about this enough. What inspires me often
are TV programmes and reading articles. When
I see brilliant artists, plays and musicians this
inspires me to write or produce even more.
Congratulations on receiving your MBE. Tell
us about this.
I usually forget about this! It was last June in 2012,
on the Queens’ birthday. Anybody can nominate
anybody.
Are you happy with it?
Of course I am happy - in a sense. It was quite
difficult though as I don’t really agree with it.
However, when the letter arrived, it said, ‘We would
like to offer you this award but first we would like to
know if you will accept it’. So you have to tick a box
to say if you would accept it. I kept the letter in my
draw for about two weeks as I didn’t know what to
do. Then I thought I would accept it as my mother
would love it and also because I realised that the
people I actually worked with nominated me and
I was delighted that they did that for me. The fact
that the award is called an MBE and is seen to
represent the British Empire, that’s unfortunate.
However, they had no other way of nominating me
for an award. So, whilst that medal is the only one,
I’ll take it! I had a nice day at Buckingham Palace
too.
Sandwiches?
No! We had fizzy water or apple juice. We could
help ourselves to this!
Contact:
NITRO Black Musical Theatre
www.nitro.co.uk
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0)20 7609 1331
Facebook / Twitter
Unit 36, 88-90 Hatton Gardens,
London EC1N 8PG
19