Musical artist
Matthew Xia
(born 1982)
[1]
[2]
is a British
theatre director
,
DJ
(under the name DJ Excalibah),
composer
,
broadcaster
and
journalist
.
[3]
Early life
[
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]
Xia was born to a
Scottish
and
English
mother and
Jamaican
father in
Waltham Forest
,
London
, and was raised in
Leytonstone
and
Newham
.
[3]
[4]
[5]
Theatrical career
[
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]
Xia's interest in theatre was encouraged when he joined the Theatre Royal Stratford East youth theatre. As a young actor he appeared in
Tube Tale's
Mouth directed by
Armando Iannucci
.
Xia was on the Board at the
Theatre Royal Stratford East
for 10 years, as well as being Associate Director there in 2009/2010.
[6]
Work here includes:
I was looking at the ceiling and then I saw the sky
,
Mad Blud
,
Re:Definition
,
Da Boyz
(also musical director and composer), and as co-director
Aladdin
,
Cinderella
and
The Blacks
(also musical director and composer).
Xia was a founding member of
Act For Change
, a trustee for
Artistic Directors of the Future
and has served on the boards of
Rich Mix
(2008-2012) and Creative Futures.
In 2013, he was the recipient of the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme bursary and took up the post as Director in Residence at the Liverpool
Everyman
and
Playhouse
Theatres, where he directed the premiere of Daniel Matthew's
Scrappers
and was Associate Director of the Everyman's opening ceremony.
[6]
In 2013, he won the
Young Vic
’s Genesis Future Director award with his production of
Sizwe Banzi is Dead
, which sold out its six-week run at the Young Vic and was then followed by a six-week national tour.
[6]
He also directed the revival of
Joe Penhall
's
Blue/Orange
for the Young Vic in 2015 starring
David Haig
,
Daniel Kaluuya
and
Luke Norris
. From 2014 to 2017 he was Associate Artistic Director at the
Manchester Royal Exchange
where he directed the Bruntwood Award-winning Wish List by Katherine Soper,
Stephen Sondheim
's
Into the Woods
and
Frankenstein
adapted by
April de Angelis
.
[6]
Xia was a member of the panel of judges for the
Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting
2017 alongside:
Alfred Enoch
,
Lucy Prebble
,
Russell T. Davies
,
Lyndsey Turner
,
Michael Oglesby
,
Phil Porter
, and chair
Kirsty Lang
. He was also a judge for the 2017
Alfred Fagon Award
.
Selected theatre productions
[
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]
DJ Excalibah
[
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]
Formerly a DJ on
BBC Radio 1Xtra
where he presented his show, 'Tales From the Legend' until 2005,
[7]
in 2012 during the parade at the
2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony
, he presented a mix of global music along with
DJ Walde
and
Goldierocks
.
[8]
He has DJed at the
Glastonbury Festival
,
Ministry of Sound
,
Fabric
and clubs across Europe and the UK.
[6]
His other broadcast work includes
BBC Radio 1
,
6Music
and
Radio 4
.
[6]
Journalism
[
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]
Xia has written for
The Stage
,
Hip Hop Connection
,
The Sunday Telegraph
and
The Guardian
.
[6]
References
[
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]