Performances in Bournemouth, Hammersmith and Wookey Hole

Zambezi Express looks certain to be a huge theatrical hit when it goes on tour later this year, with excerpts being performed at the Glastonbury Festival and Womad before the show moves to Bournemouth in August, with weekly performances on Thursdays at Wookey Hole.


The show then moves to Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London before a season in a big top on Durdham Downs in Bristol this autumn.

Steaming Straight Out Of Africa, Into Somerset And On To The London Stage

Zambezi Express is a musical, but not as we know it.

Pounding, multi-layered African beats and powerful acapella vocals, a wildly dynamic, 30-strong company which throws heart and soul into a dizzyingly high energy succession of jumping, jiving, acrobatic dance numbers to illuminate Zilli's amazing narrative. As Zilli battles against the dangers of the big city, and seeks to carve out a future as a football star, he becomes embroiled in a desperate ancestral fight. It's 90 minutes of edge-of-the-seat action from kick off to final whistle, which reaches a triumphant resolution with only seconds to spare.

The story of the show's genesis has as many dramatic twists and turns as the Zambezi Express' journey itself. It all began when the Events Manager at Wookey Hole saw the globally renowned African drumming and dancing group SIYAYA at WOMAD. Then the nephew of Wookey Hole owner Gerry Cottle (ex-international circus entrepreneur) suggested a storyline for a soccer-based musical because as it was the World Cup in South Africa 2010. Gerry invited SIYAYA director Saimon Phiri to develop a score and lyrics for the show, and Saimon then augmented his 15 strong group with 15 top talents from Makokoba, SIYAYA's base on a township on the outskirts of Bulawayo. They'd never been out of Zimbabwe.

Willie Ramsay at the Wookey Hole Circus School drilled the company relentlessly to develop their fitness, endurance and skills.

And finally Wayne Fowkes (director and choreographer of the incredible French musical theatre show Notre Dame) and his assistant Darren Charles came on board to create the full-blown spectacular which has emerged as ZAMBEZI EXPRESS: two years in the making; a cast of 30 of Africa's most amazing singers, dancers and musicians; a blisteringly high-energy, electrically-charged, feel-good event.

This is the stage musical as never conceived before, and this is the beautiful game as it's never been seen before. No pun intended: this piece of theatrical football is in a league of its own.