A play about ‘Purple Aki’ is coming to Greater Manchester next month

A play about the bodybuilder known as ‘Purple Aki’ is coming to a Greater Manchester venue next month.

Now, many of us love to switch off after a long week at work and tune in to streaming channels such as Netflix where we can choose from a whole host of true and fictional crime stories.

We may fancy ourselves a bit of a sofa detective as we try to solve a murder without moving from the living room as we guess who the killer is before they are revealed.

The Art of Crime / The Crime of Art: Being Purple Aki – A Play is coming to The White Hotel on Thursday September 21st.

The website synopsis says: “She’s got the time, the curiosity, the resources – and a thirst for true crime. Meet AKI BROWNE – online sleuth like no other…

“A one-act play, featuring the hunt for a real-life bogeyman/racist caricature, this is an absurd journey into the obsessive world of a digital detective.

“In the wake of the reappearance of Madeleine McCann and the Nicola Bulley tragedy, it seems something inside of us loves to dig for clues. But at what cost?

“Romantic paranoia, surrealism, possession, human frailty and the desperately real need for personal reinvention. It’s all in the being. People in dreams are closer than we think.”

Michael Nath author of The Treatment says about the play: “Being Purple Aki is a supercharged drama of love, pursuit and that idea which our culture has done its best to empty of meaning, namely, ‘identity’; Collings restores meaning, fiercely, wisely, and above all, with heart.

“It made me think of an ultra-concentrated Moby Dick. The rendering of voices is magnificent and right: this is how the real world sounds! Unlike most writers in this land, Austin Collings is not in breach of the Weeds Act (1959).”

Mark Hodkinson, author of No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy, says about the play: “A bombardment of barbed wire ideas, crackpot and profound, all stirred up in a gooey mess of ectoplasm, leaving us disturbed and reassured: how’s that possible?

“In short, all that Art should ever be, always.” Starring Lucie Browne and Written & Directed by Austin Collings, this play is sure to have you gripped on the edge of your seat.

Akinwale Arobieke was born in Crumpsall, North Manchester in 1961, but achieved notoriety in Merseyside after several convictions for indecent assault.

Across the North West, Arobieke became a racist caricature known as ‘Purple Aki’ as well as an internet sensation — who asked to feel the muscles of men working out at the gym.

In 2006 his criminal activities were originally ruled as sexually motivated, but in 2016 a court order that curtailed his activities was lifted. Arobieke made a public apology for his actions and insisted they were not sexually motivated.

The Art of Crime / The Crime of Art: Being Purple Aki – A Play starts from 7pm and runs until late on Thursday September 21st. Tickets cost £10. To purchase a ticket click HERE.

The White Hotel, Salford M3 7LW.