Set in a rundown Hackney council flat where a pirate radio station blasts the airwaves with new music and uncensored political perspectives, Grime MC Jammz and James Meteyard’s play fuses Grime, Garage, and Drill into a story of survival and subculture. Focusing on how music unites and builds communities, and provides a voice for free expression, the show follows the Blaze crew as they battle to keep their station alive, led by father-figure Hughbert.
Produced by The Big House, who work with care-affected young people, it weaves together themes of state overreach and the censorship of Black culture. Against the backdrop of 7/7, the Windrush scandal and the censorship of Drill music, Blaze FM asks questions about freedom of speech: not just what is allowed, but who is allowed to say it, and who decides.
Blaze FM is directed by artistic director of The Big House Maggie Norris. After playing Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the Pleasance in 2025 (Theatre Weekly Best Director Award winner), it now tours to Lowry, Bristol Old Vic and Belgrade Theatre, The Big House’s first regional tour.
Jammz said, “Grime culture is very much about doing it yourself, building community and being the voice for the community which you build and the community that you represent. On a microcosm, Blaze FM about a family/community that run a pirate radio station and how that’s eventually pulled apart by society and different socioeconomic pressures. On the macrocosm, it’s about society as a whole, about freedom of speech, who is allowed to say what and how that gets policed depending on who says it.”
Jammz is a grime MC from East London and founder of the record label I Am Grime. In theatre, he appeared in Poet In Da Corner at the Royal Court. James Meteyard is a playwright whose work includes Electrolyte (Pleasance Edinburgh Fringe, awards include the Mental Health Fringe Award) and Redemption for The Big House in 2022.
The Big House is a London-based production company and arts charity creating original, risk-taking work with care-affected young people. With smash-hit runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, national tours in partnership with the UK’s leading regional venues, and extraordinary site-specific productions, The Big House consistently produces “world-class” work charged by the lived experience of their membership. The Big House has received six Off West End Awards, the Centre for Social Justice Born to Be Award, two international LOVIE Awards, the Achates Corporate Philanthropy Prize, and was the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport’s 2025 Charity of the Year.
Running Time: 80 mins (no interval) | Suitable for ages 16+
Content Warnings: Some swearing. minor references to drugs (smoking weed), off-stage violence / death, references to violence, loud sounds, haze, flashing lights.
Company information
Director Maggie Norris
Writers James Meteyard and Jammz
Music & lyrics Jammz
Musical supervisor & musical director Shemzy
Sound designer Tony Gayle
Lighting designer Alex Forey
Video designer Mic Pool
Costume designer Lambdog
Set designer Tina Torbey
Additional sounds Jack Baxter
Production manager William Deady
Producer Emily Obasohan
Cast
Aliaano El Ali, Andrew Brown, Anais Lone, Marcus Omoro, Leo Patrick
Listings information
17 – 19 Sept
Lowry Theatre, Salford
Pier 8, The Quays, Salford M50 3AZ
8pm | £15 (£13 concs)
thelowry.com | 0161 876 200
29 Sept – 3 Oct
Bristol Old Vic, Bristol
King St, Bristol BS1 4ED
Tues, Weds, Fri, Sat 8pm, Thurs 6.30pm, Sat matinee 3pm
bristololdvic.org.uk | 0117 987 7877
7 – 8 Oct
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
Belgrade Square, Corporation St, Coventry CV1 1GS
7.45pm | From £12
www.belgrade.co.uk | 024 7655 3055
