The Big House presents: Blaze FM at Lowry from 17 – 19 September
Political gig theatre interrogates who is allowed to say what through the story of a pirate radio station Blaze FM opens at Lowry, Salford from 17 – 19 September
Written by James Meteyard and Jammz | Directed by Maggie Norris
“A superb show that handles sensitive topics well, allowing moments of joy, grief and resilience” The List
Set in a rundown Hackney council flat where a pirate radio station blasts the airwaves with new music and uncensored political perspectives, Grime MC Jammz and James Meteyard’s play fuses Grime, Garage, and Drill into a story of survival and subculture. Focusing on how music unites and builds communities, and provides a voice for free expression, the show follows the Blaze crew as they battle to keep their station alive, led by father-figure Hughbert. Produced by The Big House, who work with care-affected young people, it weaves together themes of state overreach and the censorship of Black culture. Against the backdrop of 7/7, the Windrush scandal and the censorship of Drill music, Blaze FM asks questions about freedom of speech: not just what is allowed, but who is allowed to say it, and who decides.
Blaze FM is directed by artistic director of The Big House Maggie Norris. After playing Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the Pleasance in 2025 (Theatre Weekly Best Director Award winner), it now tours to Lowry, Bristol Old Vic and Belgrade Theatre, The Big House’s first regional tour.
Jammz said, “Grime culture is very much about doing it yourself, building community and being the voice for the community which you build and the community that you represent. On a microcosm, Blaze FM about a family/community that run a pirate radio station and how that's eventually pulled apart by society and different socioeconomic pressures. On the macrocosm, it's about society as a whole, about freedom of speech, who is allowed to say what and how that gets policed depending on who says it.”
Jammz is a grime MC from East London and founder of the record label I Am Grime. In theatre, he appeared in Poet In Da Corner at the Royal Court. James Meteyard is a playwright whose work includes Electrolyte (Pleasance Edinburgh Fringe, awards include the Mental Health Fringe Award) and Redemption for The Big House in 2022.
The Big House is a London-based production company and arts charity creating original, risk-taking work with care-affected young people. With smash-hit runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, national tours in partnership with the UK’s leading regional venues, and extraordinary site-specific productions, The Big House consistently produces “world-class” work charged by the lived experience of their membership. The Big House has received six Off West End Awards, the Centre for Social Justice Born to Be Award, two international LOVIE Awards, the Achates Corporate Philanthropy Prize, and was the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport’s 2025 Charity of the Year.