A play written by the late Hollywood star Chadwick Boseman is part of a legacy that will “preserve his memory”, his brothers have told Sky News.
Deep Azure, a play based around the death of Prince Jones, a black student who was killed by a police officer in Virginia in 2000, is premiering in the UK at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London.
Boseman, who died in 2020, four years after being diagnosed with colon cancer, attended the same university, Howard, in Washington DC, and was inspired to write by the true events.
Best known for his starring role in Black Panther, the Oscar nominee also spent a lot of time writing outside of his acting work.
The star’s brothers Kevin and Derek say director Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu “fell in love” with Deep Azure after coming across it a few years ago, and pitched the idea to Shakespeare’s Globe.
“It preserves his memory,” Derek told presenters Anna Jones and Kamali Melbourne on Mornings on Sky News.
He said it had taken him years to come to terms with his brother’s death.
“This play is absolutely about grief,” said Kevin. “It’s about love, it’s about faith. So, yeah, all of that definitely connects to what we’ve been through.”
Paying tribute to his brother, Kevin said his happiest memories are of the time they lived together in New York after college.
“My fondest memories really are of us living together, and him experiencing New York City and becoming an artist.”
Deep Azure is inspired by Shakespeare and the poetry of hip-hop, as well as jazz. Boseman’s brothers say he always had a passion for theatre and that it is one of several plays he wrote before he died.
It follows Azure, whose world spirals out of control after her fiancé Deep is killed by the police.
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“Writing was his number one thing,” Derek said.
“He actually initially was a directing major and took an acting class to better understand as a director how to communicate with actors, and then studied at Oxford, the British Academy of Dramatic Arts summer programme,” Kevin continued. “And then became a great actor.”
“He was always writing,” said Derek. “If we were on a vacation or sitting in the living room watching television, he always had a notebook or a laptop, and he was always writing.”
Deep Azure is now showing at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe.
