Matthew Xia, theatre director For theatre director Matthew Xia, 846 Live came from a place of frustration. “George Floyd lost his life on the streets of America, and I think many people of African diaspora heritage wanted to speak to that moment,” he says. “But I felt hamstrung by Covid. Sure, I could scream into Twitter or write a blog, but [as a director] that’s not what I do. I bring people together.” Commissioned by Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Royal Docks Team in response to the killing of Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, 846 Live began life as a series of short audio plays written by black and Asian writers. Theatre with live audiences hadn’t taken place in the UK for six months, and when Xia was asked to bring some of them to life – in a basketball court in south-east London – he jumped at the opportunity.