What happens when you return to a role that forces you to confront parts of yourself you thought were healed? In this episode, Harvey Morton sits down with Tatenda Shamiso (co-director) and Michael Ahomka-Lindsay (who plays David) to talk about Choir Boy, Tarell Alvin McCraney’s powerful play about young Black men navigating spirituality, sexuality, race, identity, and brotherhood at a prep school. This is a conversation about vulnerability as power, about inner children demanding to be heard, and about what it means to create work where all of you, every intersectional part of you, is welcome in the room. Michael opens up about stepping back into David after the Bristol Old Vic production in 2023, and how hindsight has revealed layers he didn’t see before, both in the character and in himself. “This play is so emotive,” he tells me. “It makes you realise things about yourself you didn’t realise. I’m like, oh, okay, that isn’t healed.” Tatenda shares what it means to co-direct a play about Black masculinity while being three years further into his own transition, and how rare it is to feel like all of you is right for a project. “It’s sort of rare when you’ve got intersectional levels of marginalisation to feel like all of you is welcome in a space,” he says. “But I feel like all of me is right for this show.” We talk about physical affection between men on stage, about how Tarell’s text can send you to the depths of your soul and then crack the funniest joke two lines later, and about why their drama therapist calls theatre “medicine.” We discuss pressure, the external kind and the kind we put on ourselves, and what happens when young people try to fulfill what the world tells them to be. The chemistry between Tatenda and Michael is extraordinary. You can hear the trust, the mutual respect, and the deep care they have for each other and for this work. By the end of our conversation, I understood why none of the cast and creative team have lost contact since they first did this show. Why physical affection between men on stage matters more than you think What it’s like to return to a role with years of hindsight (and what that reveals) How Tatenda’s own journey with masculinity has shaped his approach to co-directing The balance between joy and difficulty in telling stories about marginalised communities Why vulnerability isn’t something to run from—it’s something that offers you power What audiences should pay attention to in David’s arc How gospel music and spirituals guide the emotional landscape of the play Why this production feels like it’s arriving at exactly the right time Tatenda Shamiso is a writer, director, and live performance maker with origins from Zimbabwe, Belgium, the United States, and Switzerland. He received the 2024 Arts Foundation Futures Award for Theatre Writing and the Evening Standard Theatre Award in Emerging Talent for his solo show NO I.D. at the Royal Court Theatre. He’s co-directing Choir Boy alongside Nancy Medina. Michael Ahomka-Lindsay is reprising his role as David after the Bristol Old Vic production. His credits include Hamilton (Victoria Palace Theatre), Cabaret (Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre), and Disney’s Newsies (Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre). Choir Boy runs at Stratford East from 26 March to 25 April 2026. Tickets start from £10. Book now: stratfordeast.com/whats-on/all-shows/choir-boy If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and review wherever you’re listening. It helps more people discover these conversations. Follow Queerly: Instagram: @thisisqueerly Website: thisisqueerly.com
