A look at One Night in Miami… at the Donmar Warehouse

25 February 1964: 22-year-old Cassius Clay has just won the world heavyweight boxing title. Instead of hitting the town, he chooses to celebrate in a Miami hotel room with three close friends – activist Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke and American football star Jim Brown.

This fictional account of a real night imagines what might have happened in that tiny hotel room. As the Civil Rights movement stirs outside, and the melody of A Change Is Gonna Come hangs in the air, four men will emerge from that one night ready to define a new world.

For the opening play in the Donmar’s main stage 2016 autumn season director Kwame Kwei-Armah returns to the UK with a new production of One Night in Miami…, Kemp Powers’ fictional account of a real night in 1964. The principal cast include David Ajala as Jim Brown, Francois Battiste as Malcolm X, Sope Dirisu as Cassius Clay, and Arinzé Kene as Sam Cooke, with Dwane Walcott as Kareem and Josh Williams as Jamaal.

The editorial unit
Photo: Johan Persson