Black British Theatre | British American Drama Academy

This course provides an overview of the Black British theatre by tracing the social, cultural, intellectual, and political developments that have come to define theory, practice, and aesthetics of its practitioners. It interrogates how Black people have been represented on stage by White writers before plays by Black theater practitioners began to gain greater visibility on the British stage. Early work by C.L.R James’ The Black Jacobin introduces the student to the anti-colonial aspect of Black British writing. The course then traces the concerns of early Black writers of the '70s like Mustapha Matura and Michael Abbensetts up to the writers of the present day. We shall analyze key texts that exemplify representations of the Black British experience against notions of Britishness. We s...