City News

Birmingham’s award-winning aerosol artist Mohammed Ali and a group of leading international poets will present Writing On The Wall at Birmingham Repertory Theatre on Thursday 21 January. This one-off evening of live graffiti art and spoken word will take place in the unusual surroundings of The REP’s Scenic Workshop before it is redeveloped as part of the theatre’s link with the new Library of Birmingham project.

The evening will feature Mohammed Ali’s live aerosol art coupled with specially commissioned performances based on the theme of ‘3’. The line-up includes Zena Edwards, who has been performing as a professional poet for the last nine years and whose one-woman show Security was seen at The REP in 2009. She will be joined by American poet Amir Sulaiman who has twice featured on HBO’s Def Poetry programme, and Dreadlock Alien, who was Birmingham’s Poet Laureate in 2006. The thought provoking production will be directed by the legendary Hip Hop theatre producer Jonzi D.

 
Mohammed Ali’s work has been seen in major cities across the globe including Sydney, New York and Kuala Lumpur and he recently won an award in the hugely respected ITV Southbank Show Awards. Ali has also gained worldwide media recognition from CNN, BBC Newsnight, Aljazeera and Reuters. He said, “I have been fortunate enough to create art in major cities across the globe, but it's great to deliver my biggest project to-date right here in the city of Birmingham, where I was born and raised.”

Raidene Carter, Associate Producer at Birmingham Repertory Theatre says of the evening “Mohammed Ali’s ‘Writing on the Wall’ promises to be a ground-breaking theatrical experience for Birmingham audiences and we’re thrilled to be supporting an acclaimed local artist working alongside three internationally-renowned poets.

The upcoming redevelopment of the theatre as part of the Library of Birmingham has given us a unique opportunity to host this performance in our Scenic Workshop.

The REP has been staging a broad range of productions for the people of Birmingham and beyond for many years and, in doing this, we endeavour to enable local artists who have ambitions to expand the theatricality of their work. There are many ways to make a piece of theatre and our collaborations with poets, musicians, MCs, visual artists and writers, alongside more traditional theatre artists have pushed the boundaries of the experiences we create to inspire new audiences.”

The REP’s Scenic Workshop where sets are constructed is due for demolition in March this year as part of the Library of Birmingham development. The theatre has recently relocated its Scenic Workshop to a specially converted warehouse in the city.