For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy

Nominated for Best New Play at the 2023 Olivier Awards

I found a king in me and now I love you
I found a king in you and now I love me

Father figures and fashion tips. Lost loves and jollof rice. African empires and illicit sex. Good days and bad days. Six young Black men meet for group therapy, and let their hearts - and imaginations - run wild.

Inspired by Ntozake Shange’s essential work For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf, For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy is a profound and playful work, co-commissioned by Boundless Theatre, from multi-award-winning company Nouveau Riche and playwright Ryan Calais Cameron.

For Black Boys... gained critical acclaim for the world premiere in October 2021 at New Diorama Theatre, before successfully transferring to London’s Royal Court Theatre in March 2022. This edition was published to coincide with the second West End production at the Garrick Theatre in March 2024.

Ryan Calais Cameron is a writer for theatre and TV. His play Typical, which starred Richard Blackwood, sold out its run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019 and its transfer to Soho Theatre Upstairs, garnering 4 star reviews across the board. Queens of Sheba, co-written with Jessica Hagan, won the 2018 Edinburgh Untapped Award. Its four-week run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2018 sold out, garnering 4 and 5 star reviews and winning the Edinburgh Stage Award 2018; it transferred to the New Diorama Theatre, London and it went on national tour in 2019. Ryan was the winner of the 2018 Off West End Adopt A Playwright Award for his play Rhapsody, which was produced at the Arcola in March of that year. Retrograde, which he wrote on his year of ’adoption’, was shortlisted for the 2019 Alfred Fagon Award and Verity Bargate Award 2020. Ryan is an alumnus of the Royal Court writer’s programme 2017 and the Soho Young Company 2016/17. He has contributed to the Royal Court’s Living Newspaper: Edition 2 and is currently under commission to the Royal Court, the Arcola, Soho Theatre and Theatre Centre. Ryan’s smash hit For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy was nominated for a 2023 Olivier Award for ’Best New Play’; after its initial New Diorama Theatre run in 2021 and its transfer to London’s Royal Court Theatre in 2022, it came to the West End’s Apollo Theatre in March 2023 for a sold-out six week run and returned again to the West End’s Garrick Theatre for a nine week run starting in February 2024.