Harriet

Fri 13 – Thu 19 December

Living under slavery on a Maryland plantation in the 1840s, Araminta Ross (Cynthia Erivo) goes by the name Minty. About half the state’s Black residents are free and half enslaved. Minty knows the risk, but when opportunity comes, she sets out alone to walk 100 miles north to Philadelphia. Along the way, Minty gains help from the loose collection of new friends and abolitionists known as the Underground Railroad.

Once in Philadelphia, she meets Marie (Janelle Monáe), a sophisticated, free-born woman who helps her to claim her place and power in the new society with a new name: Harriet Tubman. Against all advice, Tubman returns south to lead her loved ones to freedom. When Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act, no place in the US is safe. Now Tubman must lead her charges 500 miles north to a place where slavery was recently outlawed: Canada.

Cynthia Erivo was a discovery for many in Steve McQueen’s Widows. Here she proves herself an exemplary leading woman, riveting in every scene, and giving her portrayal the scale and depth appropriate to such a legendary American leader.

More Birmingham Listings MORE

Birmingham Thursday 21 March - Thursday 5 December

Poetry Jam Live!

Since 2013, Poetry Jam has opened its doors every first Thursday of the month, and has grown in love, attendance…

Birmingham Monday 9 September

Candice Brathwaite: Manifesto

Manifesting. Big Magic. The Law of Attraction – call it what you will, we have all heard of…

Birmingham Saturday 28 September

Black History Month Launch

Dive into the heart of Black History Month with our special launch event dedicated to celebrating the vast…

Birmingham Tuesday 22 October

Afro Celt Sound System

Afro Celt Sound System are among the pioneers of the contemporary world music scene.   Their ground-breaking fusion…

Birmingham Thursday 24 October

CBSO 2024/25: Prokofiev & Sibelius

In the mid-twentieth century Sibelius was massive: a big influence on composers and audiences loved him. Still’s Threnody…