Trouble in Mind Tickets

Trouble in Mind Information

Olivier Award nominated Tanya Moodie will reprise her role as Wiletta Mayer in a London revival of Trouble in Mind. Trouble in Mind is at the Dorfman Theatre from December 2021.

Wiletta is a talented African-American actress who has spent a lifetime building a career in the theatre. Now she is on Broadway, rehearsing Chaos in Belleville, an anti-lynching play with a white director. As rehearsals progress, Wiletta finds it increasingly difficult to relate to the part she is playing. Will she be able to overcome her misgivings and let the show go on?

Peppered with knowing humour and richly drawn characters, this vivid depiction of backstage life smartly satirises the white dominated theatre scene of the fifties.

Alice Childress was an extraordinary trailblazer in the history of American Theatre, the first African-American woman to win an Obie award (for her production of Trouble in Mind in 1956), to direct Off-Broadway and to have a play professionally produced in New York.

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Cast and creative

By: Alice Childress
Director: Nancy Medina
Cast list: Tanya Moodie, Daniel Adeosun, Naana Agyei-Ampadu, Joe Bannister, Emma Canning, John Hollingworth, Rory Keenan, Gary Lilburn and Cyril Nri
Design: Rajha Shakiry
Lighting: Nao Nagai
Costume: Rajha Shakiry
Sound: Elena Peña

Our review

Gary Lilburn and Tanya Moodie in Trouble in Mind (Photo by Johan Persson)

'Trouble in Mind' at the National Theatre review — an engaging and stirring piece of activist theatre

4/5

Set in 1950s America, Trouble in Mind follows rehearsals for the fictional play, Chaos in Belleville; a Broadway-bound show about a lynching in a southern town. Despite being a "race" play, the show is written, financed and directed by a roster of white theatremakers.The play-within-a-play format has been used multiple times on stage with hits such as Noises Off, Curtains, and The Play that Goes Wrong to name a few. While these other comedies seek to entertain, Trouble in Mind succeeds in using...

13 Dec 2021, 00:00

Latest Trouble in Mind News & Features

Photo credit: National Theatre (Photo by Counse on Flickr)

National Theatre sets dates for ‘Trouble in Mind’, ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Small Island’

Performance schedules for three upcoming shows at the National Theatre have been confirmed. Dates and further casting updates have been revealed for Trouble in Mind, Wuthering Heights and Small Island, with performances through to spring 2022.Alice Childress' Trouble in Mind will be performed in the Dorfman Theatre, with previews from 2 December, an opening night on 9 December and runs to 29 January. First staged over 60 years ago, Trouble in Mind sees black actress Wiletta Mayer navigate...

23 Sep 2021, 00:00