Through the Mud

Assata Shakur, a notorious Black Panther, is accused of murdering a state trooper in New Jersey in 1973. Ambrosia, a college student in 2014, is at the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson, Missouri, finding herself swept up in the consequences of protesting.

Two generations of women activists involved in the struggle for Black liberation in America.

Against a stunning soundtrack of gospel and blues, Apphia Campbell’s Through the Mud explores what it takes to become a revolutionary. Originally performed in Edinburgh in 2017, with the title Woke, it won a Scotsman Fringe First, a Highly Commended Award from Amnesty International, and was shortlisted for the Filipa Bragança and Scottish Art Club Theatre Awards.

This edition was published alongside the revival at Summerhall during the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, co-produced by Stellar Quines and The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, winning a Summerhall Lustrum Award.

Apphia Campbell is a writer and performer originally from the United States. She has performed her hit show Black is the Color of My Voice in Shanghai, Edinburgh, London’s West End, Oxford and around the UK.

Her other work includes Woke, presented as part of the Made In Scotland Showcase at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It won a Fringe First Award and a Highly Commended award from Amnesty International, and was shortlisted for the Filipa Bragança Award and Scottish Art Club Theatre Award. Woke was extended and reworked under a new title, Through the Mud, which was premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2024.