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Nitrobeat
Formerly	Black Theatre Co-operative (Black Theatre-Co-op)
Company type	Theatre company
Industry	Arts & Entertainment
Founded	1979; 45 years ago
Founder	Mustapha Matura, Charlie Hanson
Headquarters	United Kingdom
Website	nitrobeat.co.uk

Nitrobeat is a British theatre company. Founded in 1979 as the Black Theatre Co-operative by the playwright Mustapha Matura and the director Charlie Hanson,^[1] it was renamed Nitro in 1999. "Black Theatre Co-operative have been producing black theatre for longer than any other black company in Europe, and their existence has been significant to the careers of many of Britain's renowned black actors, actresses and playwrights."^[2]

History

The Black Theatre Co-operative's first production was of Mustapha Matura's play Welcome Home Jacko, which was staged in May 1979 at "The Factory", a disused building in Paddington renovated for the company's use.^[3] The production was later revived in New York and the company has performed in South Korea, the Netherlands and Germany as well as touring extensively across the UK.^[4] In the 1980s the company wrote the television sitcom No Problem!, starring Judith Jacob and Chris Tummings. In collaboration with the Nottingham Playhouse, the company's 1997 adaptation of Ray Shell's novel Iced toured nationally, and had a sell-out run at the Tricycle Theatre.^[2]

In 1999, the company was as Nitro.^[5]

The company's artistic directors have included Felix Cross, Joan Ann Maynard and current Director Diane Morgan. Early performers with the company included the actor Trevor Laird.

Nitrobeat has been a resident company at London's Soho Theatre since 2015.^[6]

References

^ "Black Theatre Co-operative". National Theatre Black Plays Archive. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
^ ^a ^b Lynette Goddard (2002). "Black Theatre Co-operative". In Donnell, Alison (ed.). Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture. pp. 48–49. ISBN 9781134700257.
^ Goddard, Lynette (2007). Staging Black Feminisms: Identity, Politics, Performance. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 23.
^ "Black Theatre Co-operative". Unfinished Histories. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
^ Osborne, Deirdre (2006), "Writing black back: an overview of blacktheatre and performance in Britain", in Studies in Theatre and Performance, Volume 26 Number 1, p. 24. doi: 10.1386/stap.26.1.13/1.
^ "About". Nitrobeat. Retrieved 28 March 2022.