JADAR

The Brown Suite is a funk-fueled dance theater production that pays homage to iconic musical legends, namely James Brown. Ahead of its Manchester premiere, we sat down with Manchester’s own Nahum McLean, who co-created, directed and choreographed the show alongside San Francisco’s Darius Drooh, with whom he founded dance company BlacBrik.

What is The Brown Suite and what makes it special?

“The Brown Suite is a celebration of James Brown’s music with additional tracks by Etta James and Sam Cooke, and it’s essentially a lovely story where we kind of go into the world of 1970s New York and follow a loose narrative around these characters that are falling in love, flirting, also fighting, all the things that happen, any kind of group of friends, in any city really, but it’s set against the backdrop of 1970s New York.”

What drew you to the funk and soul of the 70s? How do you select your music?

“Well, the piece was originally created three years ago as a small duet to James Brown’s music, with Sam Cooke as well. So, when we decided to turn the show into a full-length show, adding Etta James was about adding more feminine, drawn-out vocally aspects, because we know James Brown is very high energy, and we also want those ballads as well. So, selecting the music was definitely a task because the music is so iconic. I mean, everyone knows James Brown’s music. There were so many songs that we just didn’t know whether we could use it or not. And then, we eventually selected the full soundtrack, which for us hits all the parts of James Brown with songs that everyone knows and loves but also songs that people might not know and might be new to. There were definitely songs in there that we were like, ‘Oh, this would be perfect for the audience and for a good time but it doesn’t necessarily drive our show forward in a way that makes sense’. So, it was definitely a task.”

And do you have any other influences?

“We were heavily influenced by 1970s TV shows. When you see the opening, it’s very much like The Brady Bunch. We kind-of love that idea, especially when you’re listening to Soul and Funk music, that we create this world where the music lives in a cinematic sense and where the music is also doing a lot of the storytelling for us.”

I saw you’re performance of ‘Death of the Bachelors’ at Ballet Nights. How does it feel to translate it into a full touring production?

“It’s definitely a massive step in the right direction of what we wanted to do, and luckily for us because, we had made ‘Death of the Bachelors’, the world was somewhat created, and it was more about taking that seed and then making it bigger and adding characters to that world. So, it was actually quite a fun task because we were looking at 1970s TV shows or looking at any sitcom, like Friends, where each character has their role. So, that made things a lot easier, having that kind of structure.”

The world of it is so bold and energetic and which really comes across in lighting and stage design too. How did it feel like piecing it all together in the actual rehearsal process?

“It was definitely a big task. We have to do it in just a small few weeks of rehearsal. But we luckily have such an amazing group of dancers. They’re so incredible. They are really world-class, and you’re able to give them the character in the same way that you give an actor a character and ask them to put their input in to help develop their character. It made rehearsal so much easier. So, we’re really, really lucky and grateful to have such amazing dancers to work with.”

What’s your process in building a show with story-driven choreography?

“Well, Darius and I’s background is very much in modern dance and classical dance. There’s such a framework there, especially with ballet, with storytelling. And it was kind of, ‘How do we make this modern and how do we make this accessible to all audiences?’ You know, sometimes ballet can feel like it’s only for a particular audience, and we really wanted to be able to bring that high-calibre dancing but also have audiences who don’t necessarily watch dance still feel like they can understand. Like, they can take part and not feel like it’s a private language only for the select few. That for us was more of what we were going for, and it actually became easier because we were able to really just look at it as an audience member and see: ‘Is this enjoyable? Is this understandable?’”

How would you describe BlacBrik and how did it come about?

“I’m from Manchester originally, and Darius is from San Francisco, and we both met in New York when I was studying at Alvin Ailey. And we both had a passion for creating, and then that passion kind of joined whilst we were in school. So, it was quite organic. And then, whilst we were separated, I was touring and doing several things, he was touring the US doing other things. He eventually came to London and joined the cast of The Lion King, and within about 6 months, we were back in the studio again after 10 years of not being in the studio together, creating ‘Death of the Bachelors’. We’ve created a couple of works but definitely ‘Death of the Bachelors’ was our first one so it was really nice to see the seed of BlacBrik being turned into a full-length show.”

Your style is a very unique blend of dance genres. How would you describe it?

“We both started in hip-hop and West African dance; and then we were quickly taken up by ballet and modern, and so it’s very much so a natural blend of these kind of dance forms. When you look at hip-hop and social dances, it feels quite accessible, as in you look at it and think, ‘I could do this’. If it comes from a social dance background, then it’s something that you can naturally get into as a human being. Whereas, sometimes, if you look at ballet, it’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is so incredibly athletic’. And it’s not that what we’re doing isn’t athletic but there’s like an ease because we’ve taken the social dance aspect and kind-of added that into the ballet and the modern dance. It’s also easy on the eye but also quite difficult for the dancer to make it look so easy. So, I think if anything it is more of a task for the dancers than for us creatives.

“Our training is so diverse, and it wasn’t necessarily a conscious choice of like, ‘Oh, we want to use this style’. It’s just what the story, and the music, brought out of us with that music. It’s quite special.”

How do you approach telling a completely new story through choreography? Is there a lot of spontaneity or collaboration in the process?

“Absolutely. When we were creating, obviously we had set out the synopsis of the show and how it would run quite early on in the process. But when we are actually in the studio, that’s the fun bit where we can kind of play and have ideas. And I think that really is the beauty of dance, because there’s not necessarily a script per se. And our rehearsal director, Emma Harris, who’s an absolute godsend. She’s amazing. She has her backgrounds in The Royal Ballet but also she’s done Chicago and Cats, so that real theatre and ballet mix. So, yeah, it’s been a great process with all of the people in the room for sure.”

What would you like audiences to take away from The Brown Suite?

“I definitely want audiences to come and take away the fact that music, social dancing, and social spaces are a massive part of life. And, coming to the theatre, you can remember all those times that you may have had when you were younger, going out and having fun. But also, if you are younger, that you can just go out and just have a good time and that the friendships and relationships that happen and come and go – they’re all a part of life. But, essentially, we have to just keep on dancing our way home. And that’s what the show is about. The rhythm never stops. The rhythm of the city never stops. The rhythm of life never stops, as long as you keep dancing and keep your spirits lifted.

“I would also love conversations. With our run in Richmond, there was a lot of people that I’d spoken to who were couples having discussions about the topics that were happening in the show, and I imagine that those kind of things are good for relationships to discuss the love and discuss things that might happen between them. I think arts and theatre is a great catalyst for discussion. It’s beautiful. I think it’s something that, theatre-goers are definitely used to do doing but hopefully we can bring more people who don’t necessarily go to the theatre to have those experiences in. And The Brown Suite is for people who love funk, who love soul, who love good music, and people who might who might be open to a new experience of theatre.”

The Brown Suite is currently touring the UK until November 20, returning from in 2027 at Hackney Empire from May 19 to 22.