Retrograde





What would you sacrifice for success?
Inspired by real events, Retrograde is an ‘instant classic’ (Time Out) from award-winning writer Ryan Calais Cameron (For Black Boys…).
This alarmingly timely and ‘wickedly funny 90 minutes’ (The Standard) captures a pivotal moment in the life of trailblazing actor Sidney Poitier.
Hollywood’s so-called Golden Age. Ten years before becoming the first Black man to win an Oscar, a young Sidney Poitier arrives to sign a life-changing contract that could make him a star. But there’s a catch. As he becomes entangled in events larger than he imagined, Sidney is forced to make an impossible choice – one that will reshape his future, the Civil Rights Movement, and the soul of a nation.
Backed by double Oscar and BAFTA nominee Colman Domingo as producer, Amit Sharma’s ‘perfectly pitched production’ (Independent) stars Ivanno Jeremiah, Stanley Townsend and Oliver Johnstone as ‘an ensemble operating at its peak’ (WhatsOnStage).
Exploring integrity, betrayal, and the personal cost of success, Retrograde asks what would you sacrifice to achieve your dream?
★★★★★‘A deserved West End triumph for one of Britain’s greatest playwrights’
The Telegraph
★★★★‘A wickedly funny 90 minutes’
The Standard
★★★★★‘Must-see theatre’
The Telegraph
★★★★‘An instant classic’
Time Out
★★★★★‘An electrifying, razor-sharp piece’
WhatsOnStage
★★★★‘Gripping, inspiring and funny’
The Times
★★★★‘Ryan Calais Cameron’s electrifying McCarthy-era three-hander’
The Observer
★★★★‘Absolutely speaks to today. See it, definitely.’
The Standard

Ivanno Jeremiah
Sidney Poitier
Ivanno Jeremiah is an Ugandan, Rwandese & proud South London TV, Film, Voice and Theatre actor. He studied at the BRIT School of Performing Arts before winning a scholarship to RADA.
Theatre includes: The Suit (Peter Brook International Tour); The Convert & Measure for Measure (Young Vic); A Soldier’s Tale (City of London Sinfonia); The Nether (Headlong/Royal Court); Truth and Reconciliation (Royal Court); Julius Caesar (RSC); Constellations (Donmar); Retrograde (Kiln)
Film includes: Woken, The Flood, Bees Make Honey, Julius Caesar, The Veteran, A Few Miles South, No More Wings (TriBeCa winner), Last Words, Limbo, The Agreement (Producer), Ozi: Voice of The Forest.
Television includes: Halo 2, Humans, Unaired Game of Thrones Prequel, Lockwood & Co, A Discovery of Witches, Cold Feet, Counterpart, Black Mirror, Injustice, The Jury, Julius Caesar, The Hollow Crown, The Jury.
Upcoming Work: We Go Again (BBC)

Stanley Townsend
Mr Parks
Stanley Townsend was born in Dublin, Ireland. He is co-founder of Rough Magic Theatre Company.
Recent theatre includes: Solar Bones (Abbey Theatre Dublin), All About Eve (Noel Coward Theatre), Incantata (Galway International Arts Festival), Glengarry Glen Ross (The Playhouse, London), Girl From the North Country (Old Vic), King Lear, Phedre, Gethsemane, Happy Now, Remember This, Guys and Dolls at the National Theatre, London; The Alice Trilogy, Shining City (for which he won the Irish Times Best Actor Award), The Nether, Under the Blue Sky, The Weir and Tribes at the Royal Court, London; The Dead, The Wake, Trinity for Two and Sacred Mysteries at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; The Gingerbread Mix-up at St Andrews Lane, Dublin; A View from the Bridge (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh), Prayers of Sherkin at the Old Vic, London; Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds; The Plough and the Stars at the Young Vic, London; Democracy at the Bush Theatre, London; Speed-the-Plow for Project Arts Centre, Dublin; Saint Oscar for Field Day Theatre Company, Derry; Who Shall Be Happy…? for Mad Cow Productions, Belfast, London and tour; and Art in the West End at the Wyndham Theatre.
Television includes: The Regime, Balck Shore, Kaos, Zen, Whistleblower, He Kills Coppers, Prosperity, Saddam’s Tribe, Rough Diamond, Waking The Dead, Spooks, The Virgin Queen, Hustle, Omagh (film), The Brief, Murder Squad, Fallen, Wire in the Blood, The Commander, Menace, Seventh Stream, Heartbeat, Station Jim, Table 12, Casualty, Best of Both Worlds, Active Defence, DDU (Making the Cut), Ballykissangel, Peak Practice, Jonathan Creek, A Touch of Frost, The Governor, The Bill, Parnell, Nighthawks, Fortycoats & Co., Lost Belongings, Lapsed Catholic, Glenroe, Ashes to Ashes, Mad Dogs, Sherlock, Call the Midwife, Quirke, Ripper Street, 24: Live Another Day, Galavant, The Collection, Redwater, Informer, The Spy and Dangerous Liaisons.
Film includes: Jay Kelly, The Teacher, Song of Names, The Girl from Mogadishu, The Current War, Florence Foster Jenkins, The Voices, One Chance, Standby, The Physician, Lovely Louise, Killing Bono, Happy Go Lucky, Nativity, Flawless, The Tiger’s Tale, Isolation, The Libertine, Inside I’m Dancing, Tulse Luper II, Suzie Gold, Wondrous Oblivion, American Girl, Monsieur N, Mystics, The Van, My Friend Joe, Moll Flanders, Jake’s Progress, Beyond Reason, Good Girls, In the Name of the Father, Blue Ice, The Miracle and Taffin.

Oliver Johnstone
Bobby
Theatre includes: The Real Thing, All My Sons (The Old Vic); Imperium, Oppenheimer (RSC/West End); Duchess of Malfi, Henry V (Headlong/Shakespeare’s Globe); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (ETT/UK tour); The Haystack (Hampstead); Tribes (Sheffield Crucible); Cymbeline (RSC/Barbican); King Lear (RSC/Barbican/BAM); Teddy Ferrara (Donmar); Spring Awakening (Headlong/UK tour); Another Country (Chichester).
Television includes: Endeavour, Loaded, The Syndicate, Inspector George Gently, Whitechapel, Lewis.
Film includes: The Courier, Open, On Chesil Beach, The Inbetweeners Movie 2, Skyfall.

James Alper
Understudy - Mr Parks & Bobby
Theatre includes: The Deep Blue Sea; Greenland; Much Ado About Nothing; The Hothouse; (National Theatre); Captain Stewart – War Horse (UK Tour); Jock Colville – Three Days in May (Trafalgar Studios, Theatre Royal Windsor & UK Tour); White House Murder Case (Orange Tree Theatre); Pages (Union Theatre); Cressida Among the Greeks (White Bear Theatre).
Screen includes: It Came From The Desert; Vendetta; Send Help; Cheetah Kingdom; Doctors, Poirot (Cards on the Table); Casualty.
Voiceover includes: Batlin – Metaphor: ReFantazio (Game Awards Winner – Best RPG 2024); Harry – Fragments of Him; Peter – Roberta, Peter & Phyllis (BBC Radio 4)

Brett Curtis
Understudy - Sidney Poitier
This is Brett’s West End debut.
Training: Royal Central School of Speech & Drama
Previous credits:
Television: The Nevers (HBO), Jungle (Amazon), The Outlaws (BBC)
Film: The Nobody (Prime Video), Don’t Hang Up(Element Films)
Ryan Calais Cameron
Author
Amit Sharma
Director
Frankie Bradshaw
Designer
Amy Mae
Lighting
Beth Duke
Sound
Juliet Horsley
Casting Director
Groups Accelerator Rate (10+)
£30 Band A and B tickets
Valid on 8 March – 5 April performances, excluding Saturdays
Must book by 31 January
All groups rates are subject to availability, and additional exclusions may apply
Groups Rate (10+)
£35 Band A and B tickets
Valid on Monday to Friday & Sunday performances
All groups rates are subject to availability, and additional exclusions may apply
10+ Education Accelerator Rate
£17.50 Band B & C tickets plus teacher goes free
Valid on 8 March – 5 April performances, Monday to Thursday
Must book by 31 January
Age recommendation 14+
10+ Education Rate
£20 Band B & C tickets plus teacher goes free
Valid on Monday to Thursday performances
Apollo Theatre
31 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 7EZ
