To The Streets! Outdoor Concert

Six people standing side by side on stage holding their right arm up in the air.

To The Streets!

Music & Lyrics by Tim Sutton
Book by Roy Williams
Based on an original idea by Christopher Haydon

To The Streets! is inspired by the Bristol Bus Boycott. It had its first development outing as an uplifting outdoor concert; performed in three parks across the West Midlands in August 2022; as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival – a six-month cultural programme, running alongside the Commonwealth Games.

Audiences were able to hear all the songs from the musical for the very first time and see them come to life with soul-shaking choreography, across 8 outdoor performances that took place across Handsworth Park in Birmingham, Windmill Hill (Warwick Arts Centre) in Coventry and West Park in Wolverhampton. Browse the full programme.

These performances were dedicated to the activists. Some have left us, some are still with us, all continue to inspire us daily. Thank you, Paul Stephenson, Roy Hackett, Guy Bailey, Joyce-Morris Wisdom, Barbara Dettering, Owen Henry, Audley Evans, Prince Brown, Raghbir Singh and everyone who took to the streets in 1963.

Scroll down the page to watch a video below, to hear what audiences thought from its first development outing as an outdoor concert!

Grown alongside the concert, three community-led projects – On Our Way, Soho Settlers and We Still Here, bought together residents and Birmingham based commissioned artists – Nilupa Yasmin, Black Heritage Walks Network, Overhear and Jane Thakoordin, to explore what it means to choose communities, the art of protest, and intergenerational stories within Caribbean and South Asian communities.

This element of the project was a China Plate and Birmingham Hippodrome co-production, presented by Birmingham 2022 Festival. Produced in association with Warwick Arts Centre, City of Wolverhampton Council and DRPG Creative. Generously supported by Arts Council England and The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Birmingham City Council. Supported by Garfield Weston Foundation’s Weston Culture Fund. The R&D for To The Streets! was supported by Blueprint: Without Walls R&D Investment Fund.

For more information on our future plans, please scroll down the page.

Photo © Iona Firouzabadi

China Plate are developing To The Streets! with a view to producing a full stage version of the musical in Autumn 2027.

In January 2025, we held a week-long workshop at the National Theatre, co-produced with Birmingham Hippodrome and generously supported by National Theatre’s Generate Programme and Smith and Brant Theatricals. We also presented as a new musical in development at the 2021 BEAM Showcase.

Potential partners can request the latest draft of the script and a playlist featuring all the songs, plus video recordings from the National Theatre workshop. If you’re interested to learn more, or come on board as a collaborator, investor, or partner, please contact our Producer Fiona Bradley at [email protected].

For more information, visit the full stage musical page.

This list is for the outdoor concert in 2022:

Principal Cast

Paul – Michael Ahomka-Lindsay
Roy – Jonathan André
Des – McCallam Connell
Bert – Paul Kemble
Guy – Duane-Lamonte O’Garro
Secretary – Jessie May
Pearl – Denise Pitter
Lorraine – Charlotte St.Croix
Harry – Andy Watkins

Ensemble

Aadil Din
Bradley Mutizwa
Edy Samuels
Jamel Richards
Jerry Lee
Josh Okoro
Kaierah Paul
Keilah St Juste
Lauren Clarke
Luke James
Makela Martin-Moore
Nancy Ling
Phoebe Bryan
Rachel Fearn
Robert Edwards
Robyn Kline-Christoffels
Sarah Stanley
Shanice White-McAlla