Terra Nova present new play The Trumpet & The King

Terra Nova productions, the only professional theatre company on the Island of Ireland dedicated to making intercultural work for 15 years, presents the world premiere of The

Trumpet and the King, at The Studio at the Grand Opera House Belfast, March 14 and 15, followed by a Northern Ireland tour until April 1.

The Trumpet & The King is the story of the boyhood friendship between Henry VIII (Sam Claridge) and John Blanke (Fejiro Emasiobi), Britain’s first named black artist.

At the end of 1501, John Blanke, a young black musician of exceptional talent left the ancient city of Granada and made his way to the court of Henry VII of England.

There he forged a surprising musical bond with the child who would become the infamous Henry VIII.

These two extraordinary young men scramble their way to adulthood full of feeling, often outrageously funny, as they try to figure out love, sex, politics, and what it means to be a man.

The play is the story of their imagined relationship, rooted in extensive research into the known facts, and the historic period.

The play moves between limbo and the memories of John and Henry; shifting between an otherworldly place where the men meet as equals after 500 years and the murky world of their past. Their memories are emotionally charged, sometimes distorted, but also funny, heartfelt and poignant.

Andrea Montgomery from Terra Nova Production said: “The Trumpet & The King is a funny, sexy, painful coming of age story, written in bold, colloquial language. A rich, complicated black-white relationship is centre stage on NI stages, which is uniquely placed to incubate a work that looks at a world shaped by religious tension, the clash between power and art, Islam and Christianity.”

The Trumpet play will premiere at The Studio at the Grand Opera House Belfast, March 14-15; the Home Place, Bellaghy on March 16; Studio 1A Bangor on March 21, the Market Place Theatre, Armagh on March 22, The Ardhowen Theatre on March 24, the Island Arts Centre in Lisburn on March 25, The Braid, Ballymena on March 17, the Old Court House in Antrim on March 29 and the Down Arts Centre, Downpatrick on April 11.