Miles by Oliver Kaderbhai, Southwark Playhouse, the Little, 77 Newington Causeway, London SE1 | until 7 March 2026 ⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Russell

Photo credit: Colin J Smith

Miles

by Oliver Kaderbhai

Southwark Playhouse, the Little, 77 Newington Causeway, London SE1 | until 7 March 2026

⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Russell

“Stunning performances save the day.”

The performances by Benjamin Akintuyosi and Jay Phelps in these two hander play about Miles Davis are absolutely stunning, and to hear Phelps  play his trumpet is worth going to the Little alone. The play arrives drenched with four-star reviews from the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe but there it lasted sixty minutes, here it runs for ninety and more is not better. The account of Davis' life is told in tiny scraps as he talks to a young trumpeter played by Phelps and it simply does not add up to a coherent story. If jazz is your thing then you may leave sated, but if you are just a theatregoer the chances are you will leave none the wiser about Davis' life although dazzled by some of what you have seen and heard, Centre stage is a grand piano round and on top of which the action takes place as Davis, first seen lying on top of it, interviews a young trumpeter and talks about his music and his career – it must be the most abused grand piano in the world – while images from his life are flashed on to the wall behind. They are impossible to make out against the complicated wall set designer Ellie Wintour has conjured up so add next to nothing to one's understanding. The sound is great – Davis resorts to a tape recorder from time to time – and so is the music we hear but the patchwork version of his life never becomes a coherent tale. It apparently centres round his recording Kind of Blue apparently his most famous recording but that is of little help in making sense of what one is watching. However, go see and hear Akintuyosi and Phelps – they are certainly worth watching and listening to when making music even if the play is a ramshackle affair.

Cast

Benjamin Akintuyosi – Miles Davis

Jay Phelps

Creatives

Director – Oliver Kaderbhai

Lighting Design – Alex Lewer

Video Design – Colin J Smith

Set & Costume Design – Ellie Wintour

Sound Design – Will Tonna