The packed shelves of Matthew Xia’s spare room turned study, visible over a Friday afternoon video call, read like a roadmap of the theatre director’s brain. A “Fuck the government” sign protests above what he calls his “Black shelf”, where plays from the African and Black diaspora sit alongside history books such as Thomas Pakenham’s The Scramble for Africa. There’s a 00s Hip Hop Connection magazine cover featuring a 19-year-old Xia, then DJ Excalibah, as part of Radio 1Xtra’s starting lineup and, below it, a photograph of him as a sixth-form dropout, being awarded an honorary doctorate by Grayson Perry, from the University of the Arts London, in 2019.
Xia spins the camera to a library of works directed by Joan Littlewood – an inspiration for her ability to connect theatre and community – and a card featuring the cast and crew of his adaptation of Broadway musical The Wiz, a high-octane celebration of Black music and culture that premiered in Manchester to rave reviews last year. And then, in stuffed-toy form, plump and brightly coloured, there’s the cast of Hey Duggee, CBeebies’ Emmy-winning standout animation hit of the last decade, which Xia will bring to the stage with a nine-month UK tour starting in December.
