Getting from A to B with Tia-Renee Mullings

I had initially encountered Tia-Renee Mullings' work via the Royal Court under its Open Submissions programme. 

The work was Duppies; an intimate read through in the upstairs space telling the story of ‘duppies’ - the name for supernatural spirits native to the Caribbean and gentrification of both self and community. 

“I always like writing in the in-betweens, with Duppies there's the in-between of having a ghost story, but also a lot of comedy aspects…  things, you know, they get handed down and they're incomplete, they're misplaced and I always wonder, what would the ghosts or the ancestors actually think about the things we’ve done now.” 

Mullings’ new play, A to B is also rooted in the in-between. Conceptulised during her time at university, she wanted a “coming-of-age” project to reflect her own sense of being on the edge of something new. 

“I was really excited about what was coming next, but also really terrified. It was very much like uncharted territory in both ways, and I think that also applied to romantic relationships. Uni is one of the first places where a lot of people get to explore that on their own terms, and so I think there was also that in the air, and always like being with my friends to kind of share stories about the many situations we found ourselves in, and like how ridiculous they were too, and also I knew I wanted to write something joyful.” Mullings expands on how A to B was born.

It was the experience of Black joy, that she wanted to explore as at the time she felt as though, “there couldn’t ever be enough of it” in the arts. And so a setting was born, “Caribbean-infected South London, because that's what I was missing the most.” and in turn a rom-com; something hopeful that audiences would be able to see themselves in. 

Majority of the writing took place during Mullings’ time on the Royal Court Writer’s Group and working to a deadline really aided her in getting the work ready for the wider world. Mullings also worked hard to incorporate her love of spoken word and poetry into her work, also workshopped in Duppies. 

A to B will be staged at Soho Theatre, it’s a venue that Mullings cites as being “aspirational” for it was a theatre she’d discovered “on her own” outside of the West End theatre scene.

“I feel like it allowed me to see different kinds of theatre that didn't all look one way and didn't all sound one way. I’d go one night and it would be like a one man show, and then I’d go another night and it'll be a musical, kind of like almost choreo poem, and so it was really, really cool when they reached out, because I feel like I could really see A to B in the upstairs, even from when I was writing it.” 

After being picked up by Soho Theatre, Mullings and her producers, JFR Productions and High Tide worked to assemble the perfect team to bring A to B to life. Ewa Dina (Tina Turner: The Musical, The Kola Nut Does Not Speak English) was brought on as the play’s Director, a decision that Mullings was lucky enough to be “pretty involved” in. 

“It was really useful to think about what my vision of the play was, and not only how closely a director's vision would map onto that, but also to see the possibilities, because I think whatever I imagined for the play, I always kind of approached it with the idea that like someone's going to come and like put their own spin on it, and it's going to be even more magical.” 

Dina then helped to build out the wider crew, Mullings is pleased to let me know that just the day prior they’d had a “meet and greet” which really excited her for the work to come in terms of rehearsals and nailing the vision. 

Rounding up this two-hander rom-com are Sheyi Cole, who The Floor Mag spoke to back in 2024 about his role in Netflix’s ‘The Beautiful Game’ and Zakiyyah Deen (WHY A BLACK WOMAN WILL NEVER BE PRIME MINISTER), two extremely accomplished young people who will light up Soho Theatre. 

As for Mullings’ ideal first date? “If it's like a nice summer's day, I think a trip to the Royal Observatory and then a walk around Greenwich Park would be my idea of a really chill summery first date.” 

A to B will run at Soho Theatre from 12 June - 3 July, tickets are currently sold out but you can contact the box office to be notified on further releases.