About Small Island
Olivier Award-winning director Matthew Xia ‘speaks directly to audiences today’ with his deeply personal and richly evocative take on Andrea Levy’s award-winning story.
Journey from the sun-drenched shores of Jamaica to the cold, grey streets of 1940s London in Small Island, a powerful and intimate new portrayal of Andrea Levy’s multi award-winning novel, adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson.
About Matthew Xia (Artistic Director, Theatre503)
MATTHEW XIA is the multi-award-winning Artistic Director of ATC (Actors Touring Company). He was previously Associate Artistic Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester; Director-in-Residence at The Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse; and Associate Director at Stratford East. He was Associate Artist at the Nottingham Playhouse alongside James Graham and Amanda Whittington.
Matthew has directed some of the UK’s most talented actors, including Daniel Kaluuya, Cynthia Erivo, Joseph Quinn, Maxine Peake, David Haig, Samuel Barnett, Matt Henry, Karl Collins, Martina Laird, Christopher Colquhoun, Malachi Kirby, David Moorst, Natasha J. Barnes, Yolanda Kettle, and Erin Doherty.
Directing includes: The Harder They Come (Stratford East); Bodies of Water (ATC/GDIF); Skeleton Crew (Donmar Warehouse); The Architect (GDIF/ATC/Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation); Tambo & Bones (ATC/Stratford East); the Olivier Award-winning Hey Duggee – The Live Theatre Show (Kenny Wax Family Entertainment/Cuffe & Taylor); the Fringe First Award-winning Feeling Afraid as if Something Terrible is Going to Happen (Francesca Moody Productions/Bush Theatre);
Rice (ATC/Orange Tree); The Wiz (Ameena Hamid Productions/Hope Mill/BBC Big Night of Musicals); Family Tree(GDIF/ATC/Belgrade/Brixton House); 846Live (Stratford East/GDIF); Amsterdam (ATC/Orange Tree/Plymouth Theatre Royal); Blood Knot (Orange Tree); Eden (Hampstead Theatre); One Night In Miami… (Nottingham Playhouse/Bristol Old Vic/HOME); Into The Woods, Frankenstein (Royal Exchange); Wish List (Royal Exchange/Royal Court); Shebeen (Nottingham Playhouse/Stratford East); Sleeping Beauty, The Blacks (Stratford East); Dublin Carol (Sherman Theatre); Blue/Orange, The Sound of Yellow (Young Vic);
Sizwe Banzi is Dead (Young Vic/Eclipse); I was looking at the ceiling and then I saw the sky (Co-Director, Stratford East/Barbican); Suckerpunch Boom Suite (Barbican/NitroBEAT).
Matthew has worked with an array of renowned writers as a director and a dramaturg, including; Susan Lori Parks, Dominique Morisseau, Arinze Kene, April D’Angelis, Joe Penhall, Vikki Stone, Katherine Soper, David Levi-Addai, Yasmin Joseph, Mojisola Adebayo, and Nessah Murty. He has been a respected panelist for the Evening Standard Future Fund, Yale Drama Series, the Alfred Fagon Award, BEAM, the Bruntwood Prize and most recently the Eurovision Song Contest!
DJ / Composing / Sound Design includes: presenting an award-winning Hip-Hop show on BBC 1XTRA (DJ); The London Paralympics Opening Ceremony (DJ); The People Are Singing (Royal Exchange); Free Run (Underbelly); That’s The Way To Do It (TimeWontWait); Pass The Baton, Bolero Remixed (New London Orchestra); Da Boyz, Family Man, The Snow Queen, Hansel & Gretel, Medea, and Squid (Stratford East).
Matthew was a founding member of Act for Change. In 2019, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the Arts London for his efforts to make theatre universally accessible by working to promote minority groups as theatre leaders, makers, and consumers.
Need to know: Small Island is a Leeds Playhouse, Birmingham Rep and Nottingham Playhouse production, in association with Actors Touring Company, this co-production is the first to bring the story to audiences outside London – premieres in the Quarry Theatre at Leeds Playhouse on 11 – 28 March before transferring to Birmingham Rep on 1 – 18 April, and Nottingham Playhouse on 28 April – 16 May.
