Award-nominated Theatre Piece ‘Sweet Like Chocolate Boy’ by Tristan Fynn-aiduenu Embarks on Uk Tour
Following its sold-out and critically acclaimed 3-week short run in London’s Jack Studio Theatre last November, The Off West End Theatre Award (The Offices) twice nominated theatre piece Sweet Like Chocolate Boy, by award-winning playwright and theatre maker Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu, is venturing out on tour across the UK from June 25 to September 7, 2019, supported by Arts Council England.
Named after Tristan’s favourite song, and one of the biggest UK Garage records of the ‘90s, ‘Sweet Like Chocolate’ by Shanks & Bigfoot, Sweet Like Chocolate Boy was first created as Tristan’s final year piece at Roehampton University, where he graduated with a 1st Class BA Hons in Drama with English Literature. The play went on to take shape, and was further developed via scratches at The Kiln, Rich Mix, and Cockpit, before its 5-star rated 3-week run at the Jack Studio Theatre in November 2018.
Described by critics as “nothing short of a modern masterpiece”, “a captivating storyline with brilliantly realised, often hilarious, interpretations”, “a remarkable animated and innovative play containing infatuating and exhilarating factors exploited”, and “a heady mix of important issues, gleeful comedy, nostalgia, and banging tunes that will set audiences buzzing”, Sweet Like Chocolate Boy is a storytelling epic that melts timelines, 90s nostalgia, garage and jungle music, and explores protest through the evolution of British Black music on a broiling London estate.
The theatre piece tells the timeline-fluid story of Mars, who is a street-smart, enthusiastic, lyrically saturated man, on the edge, about to propose to the girl of his dreams in present-day London, and Bounty, who is a very quiet boy in a very loud Borough paddling through the 90s with this new politically charged Black identity swirling around him. As the worlds of Mars and Bounty collide, Sweet Like Chocolate Boy asks if they can find their place in these times or will they get chewed, swallowed and digested by it?
Speaking about the inspiration for Sweet Like Chocolate Boy, Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu says, “The ‘Sweet Like Chocolate Boy’ piece developed from my keen interest in placing Black British narratives at the emotional centre, whilst stripping away the demonization of inner city London. This is done through the lens of two black boys and highlighting the contributions of 90s music from inner city London in challenging barriers to multiculturalism; genres including garage and jungle that have now become a central part of British art culture.
At its heart, the piece also critiques and celebrates the idea of having faith in a Black British community and the revolutionaries that lead it. It presents the idea of what revolution is from various viewpoints during politically charged times within Britain and examines each of them in depth. No one character is seen as solely good or bad, but rather as people desperate to not just exist – but breathe and enjoy their lives as Black British people”.
2019 TOUR DATES
June 25 – 29: Battersea Arts Centre, London
July 3 – 6: Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
July 13 – 14: Studio 3 Arts, Essex
July 20: Theatre Peckham, London
September 7: The Lowry, Salford
The 2-time Off West End Theatre Award (The Offies) Nominated ‘Sweet Like Chocolate Boy’ Announces UK Tour From June 25 – September 7, 2019
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