Opening at Northampton’s Derngate Theatre on Friday, May 20 and running until Sat, June 11, Soul, Roy Williams’ new play about the life and tragic early death of Marvin Gaye, will now also enjoy a summer season at London’s Hackney Empire between Wed, June 15 and Sun, July 3.
It’s described as, ‘a searing dramatic thriller that will reveal what really happened during Marvin Gaye’s haunting final days… a parable about an American family prepared to do anything to promote and protect their children’.
BAFTA and Evening Standard Award-winning playwright Roy Williams worked on the project in close collaboration with members of Marvin’s family. He was first approached to write a drama about Gaye by James Dacre, the artistic director of the Royal & Derngate, in 2010, the same year in which his play Sucker Punch was nominated for an Olivier award. Soul dramatises the final 18 days of Gaye’s life in 1984, spent in his Los Angeles home, known as ‘The Big House’, which he shared with his mother and father.
Derngate tickets can be obtained from the box office – 01604 624811 and www.royalandderngate.co.uk.
Hackney Empire tickets from 020 8985 2424 and www.hackneyempire.co.uk.