Simon Parkes’s Brixton Calling: A Gritty, Musical Homage to Brixton Academy
Brixton Calling — now playing at Southwark Playhouse Borough until 16 August — dramatises Simon Parkes’s unlikely transformation of a derelict 1920s cinema into the iconic Brixton Academy. Based on his memoir Live at Brixton Academy, Alex Urwin’s script and Bronagh Lagan’s energetic direction render a nostalgic snapshot of music and social change.
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Max Runham embodies Parkes with brash charm—his personal resilience and classed-up swagger grounded by lived experience as a thalidomide survivor. He is matched in energy and precision by Tendai Sitima, who plays Johnny Lawes and various other characters while delivering much of the live score.
The set—a compact plywood gig-stage strewn with posters, framed by neon tubing and backed by live sound—invites the audience into a raw, visceral concert atmosphere. Lighting and sound design (by Derek Anderson and Max Pappenheim respectively) punctuate key moments: from rave-inspired haze to Brixton riot unrest, moments that glimpse the venue’s political and cultural significance.
What the play achieves with style, however, it sacrifices in scope: decades of political activism and evolving community identities pass by at pace. Gentrification, personal relationships and Parkes’s politics are offered in shorthand, leaving the production vibrant but occasionally superficial.
Still, the intimacy of the two-character structure allows for a kinetic undercurrent that matches the Academy’s live-musical legacy. It celebrates the spirit of grassroots London, while reminding us of the complex histories embedded in the music it gives voice to.
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