This autumn, Liverpool’s Playhouse Studio becomes a time machine, soundtracked by the revolutionary rhythms of early jazz. Syncopated, the latest collaboration between Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse and Talawa Theatre Company, premieres on 23 September 2025, shining a spotlight on a forgotten chapter of Black British music history.
Written by rising star Varaidzo and directed by Manchester’s Tian Glasgow, Syncopated moves between past and present, love and legacy. It follows Him, a London music student, and Her, a young woman from Liverpool, as they connect and collide in the shadow of a city humming with untold stories. Their journey leads them to the Southern Syncopated Orchestra—the original Black jazz pioneers who helped bring the sound of freedom across the Atlantic to UK shores via Liverpool.
Set against a livewire soundscape and part of Talawa’s powerful Black Joy Season, this is no dry history lesson. It’s a bold reimagining of how music travels, transforms, and touches lives across generations. Ghosts of the past crash into present-day romance, asking whether this is a new love story or one that’s been playing on loop for a hundred years.
With design by Keshi Raghu and a cast to be announced, Syncopated promises a heady mix of theatre, music, and myth-making. Tickets are just £12.50—a steal for a world premiere that’s rich with cultural resonance and local soul.
Syncopated
Liverpool Playhouse Studio
23 September – 4 October 2025
Tickets: everymanplayhouse.com/event/syncopated
Produced by Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse and Talawa Theatre Company – bringing Black British stories centre stage where they belong.
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