August Wilson's portrayal of racism in the music industry

A searing portrait of racism and expolitation in the American music industry provides the main focus of August Wilson's celebrated play from 1982. Portrayed through the eyes of the real-life jazz singer Ma Rainey, we see a dramatic battle of wills as she struggles against the white-owned recording studio to record her song, "Black Bottom" the way she wants to. However, things come to a head when an ambitious jazz trumpeter pushes his agenda too far, leading to a tragic conclusion.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

It's 1927 in a Chicago recording studio, and three jazz band members have just arrived, joking and simultaneously arguing - it quickly becomes clear that the youngest member of the band, the swaggering trumpeter Levee antagonises the other, two older members, Cutler and Toledo.

By the time Ma Rainey arrives, the session is massively behind, with the white producers tearing their hair out - especially as Rainey is insistent that her nephew Sylvester, who has a speech impediment, records the song's intro.

Whilst they wait for the myriad technical problems to be resolved, Cutler and Levee resume their earlier argument, which descends into a violent flashpoint. Levee is fired for his lack of cooperation, and then rejected by the studio producer to record his own music - his rage is such that he viciously stabs Toledo to death, ironically ending his dream of forming his own band, and any possibility for a better life.

Infused with Rainey's own music, this musical play depicts the frustration and struggle faced by African-American artists trying to survive within a white-dominated industry, and remains to this day a politically relevant work.