Contemporary Black British Playwrights

Margins to Mainstream

L. Goddard

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780230237483
• eBook ISBN: 9781137493101
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Art General

This book examines the socio-political and theatrical conditions that heralded the shift from the margins to the mainstream for black British Writers, through analysis of the social issues portrayed in plays by Kwame Kwei-Armah, debbie tucker green, Roy Williams, and Bola Agbaje.

Part I
Contexts

1

Beyond Identity Politics: Black British Playwrights on the Mainstream

The first decade of the twenty-first century has been described as witnessing a ‘cultural renaissance’ (Kwei-Armah, cited in Davis, 2006, 240) of black British playwriting, exemplified by an increased visibility on London’s mainstream stages. This shift is arguably an acknowledgement that black playwrights’ work is of a wide significance that warrants greater exposure than can be achieved within small-scale black and touring companies. As Winsome Pinnock demonstrated in her article ‘Breaking Down the Door’ (1999), black playwrights have sought mainstream recognition and the production of black plays is often figured as a way of generating new audiences beyond the white middle classes who are the typical theatregoers at London’s mainstream theatre venues:

As one of the playwrights to emerge in the Eighties, I would say that I, like others of my generation, did not feel that my work should only be produced by the black theatre companies but that they should have a place within the mainstream. When a play by a writer like myself is presented on a mainstream stage, the profile of the visiting audience is radically changed. (Pinnock, 1999, 32)

Pinnock’s observation pre-empts the fortunes of black playwrights in the early twenty-first century. Although indicating that ‘[a]s we approach the new millennium, the contemporary black theatre scene seems to be very depressing’ (33), she also highlights that although the number of dedicated and specialist black theatre companies declined throughout the 1990s, ‘there are at present many more black playwrights, performers and directors than there have ever been, many of whom have gained valuable experience in both mainstream and fringe productions’ (33). Pinnock is careful to point out that ‘it is still more difficult, however, for black theatre practitioners to sustain a career in the theatre than their white counterparts’ (33–4), noting that black playwrights are usually produced within fringe or studio theatres ‘and it is usually difficult for them to secure more mainstream work’ (33).

Arguably, however, the first decade of the twenty-first century saw a perceivable shift in the fortunes of black British playwrights who started to gain a more high-profile mainstream presence than they had achieved before. 2003 was a particularly fortuitous year in which an unprecedented eleven black British plays were staged – almost one play a month – a major breakthrough when compared with previous decades, and a sign that contemporary black British playwrights were at last being given mainstream recognition. Kwame Kwei-Armah’s Elmina’s Kitchen (2003) opened at the National Theatre, Roy Williams’ Fallout (2003) was extended at the Royal Court, and debbie tucker green debuted on the London theatre scene with two plays staged within weeks of each other – dirty butterfly (2003) at the Soho Theatre in February and born bad (2003) at the Hampstead Theatre in April. Michael Billington’s review of 2003 celebrated it as the year that British theatre ‘suddenly woke up to big issues [… with] demanding political plays that initiated rather than terminated discussion’ (Billington, Guardian, 17 December 2003) and he cited Williams’ Fallout and Kwei-Armah’s Elmina’s Kitchen as examples of a purposeful political theatre that ‘dealt vividly with black alienation’ (Billington) in Tony Blair’s Britain. Sarah Crompton also suggests that ‘[t]he fact that these two plays are on at the same time, and have been recently preceded by striking work from other black writers […], reveals that black theatre has really come of age. No longer tucked away in fringe venues, or in companies that specialise in black work, it is striding confidently across the stages of major London theatres’ (Crompton, Daily Telegraph, 9 July 2003).

In 2004, a panel of leading black theatre practitioners debated whether the sudden increase in the production of black plays in London in 2003 was a sign of a cultural renaissance of black British theatre at the start of the new millennium.¹ Artistic Director of the Eclipse Theatre Company, Steven Luckie, was hesitant, saying ‘I do think that yes, there’s a shift. I wouldn’t really say a renaissance, because I think we have to wait and see. It takes time to create a renaissance, not just a year’ (Cavendish, Daily Telegraph, 4 December 2004). Eminent freelance director Paulette Randall, then Artistic Director of Talawa Theatre Company, was more explicitly sceptical in her reflection: ‘I thought it was interesting planning that you suddenly had Roy’s, Kwame’s and debbie’s plays on at the same time in London. […] But you could wait another 10 years for that to happen. With the Arts Council’s insistence that everyone’s got to do something culturally diverse now, I think it’s going to be interesting to see what that throws up. But I think it was just a fluke. For me there’s no renaissance’ (Cavendish). Actor and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah was more positive in acknowledging the achievements of 2003 as ‘a signal that we are being allowed into the mainstream’ (Cavendish) and pondering the possibility of ‘[t]he black serious play coming into the West End, that’s the last bastion of white supremacy, really. To finally allow that to happen would be to admit that “They’re here – they’ve arrived and they can actually do it”’ (Cavendish).

The West End transfer of Kwei-Armah’s Elmina’s Kitchen to the Garrick Theatre in 2005 marks another key moment in the wider recognition of black British playwriting in the new millennium. Theatre critic Aleks Sierz claims that ‘[t]his was also the moment when it became clear that much of the energy in British new writing was now coming from black writers whose point of view was critical of both established society and the black subcultures within it’ (Sierz, 2010, ix). In an interview that took place during the West End run, Kwei-Armah asserts, ‘I think that this is a cultural renaissance that will equal, if chronicled properly, will equal that of the Harlem Renaissance’ (Davis, 2006, 246). Elizabeth Barry and William Boles also indicate that ‘the first decade of the twenty-first century may soon become recognized as the period when black drama in Britain emerged as a dominant mainstream force’ (Barry and Boles, 2006, 312).

At the forefront of the increased visibility of black playwriting in the new millennium are Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE, debbie tucker green and Roy Williams OBE, who are widely acknowledged as the most significant black British playwrights of the early 2000s.² Their plays premiered on prominent new writing stages, including the main stage downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, the National Theatre, the Hampstead Theatre, the Soho Theatre and the Young Vic. tucker green and Williams were commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company (tucker green’s trade (2005) and Williams’ Days of Significance (2007)), Kwei-Armah’s Elmina’s Kitchen was the first non-musical play by a British-born black writer to be staged in the commercial West End, and plays by all three were adapted for radio and television (Kwei-Armah’s Elmina’s Kitchen (BBC Radio 3, 2004 and BBC4, 2005) and Statement of Regret (BBC Radio 4, 2009), Williams’ Fallout (Channel 4, 2008), and tucker green’s random (BBC Radio 3, 2010 and Channel 4, 2011)). Theatre critic Charles Spencer states, ‘in Roy Williams and Kwame Kwei-Armah we have two exceptionally talented young playwrights offering a powerful chronicle of the contemporary black experience in Britain’ (Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 18 December 2004) while tucker green is described by Aleks Sierz as one ‘of the decade’s most outstanding writers’ (Sierz, 2011, 67) and by Kate Bassett as ‘one of the most assured and extraordinary new voices we’ve heard in a long while’ (Bassett, Independent on Sunday, 11 May 2003). The latter part of the first decade saw the emergence of British-Nigerian playwright Bola Agbaje onto London’s mainstream theatre scene. With productions of three plays at the Royal Court (Gone Too Far! (2007), Off the Endz (2010) and Belong (2012)) and a commission alongside Kwei-Armah and Williams to write for the Tricycle Theatre’s ‘Not Black & White’ season (Detaining Justice (2009)) she is arguably a distinctive fourth key voice within the new millennial context of mainstream contemporary black British playwriting. All four playwrights have won Laurence Olivier or Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Awards in recognition of their work and Kwei-Armah and Williams have been honoured with OBEs.

This book is concerned with questions about how the commercialisation and mainstreaming of black British playwriting impacts on how we might understand the kinds of stories about black British experience that reach the public eye. My starting point for this project came from recognising the repeated main stage prominence of Kwei-Armah, tucker green and Williams and wondering what it was about their raft of plays and the theatrical milieu of the era that heralded such success. I sensed that they were championing a shift in contemporary black British playwriting that revised the African diasporic identity politics narratives of previous decades by moving beyond generic concerns with immediate first- and second-generation experiences of migration and diaspora into examining the specifics of topical social issues and concerns that arise from living in London today, and particularly acknowledging the experiences of the third generation of black Britons. Their plays seemed to be very much grounded within a British theatrical context, both in terms of forms, particularly the prevalence of social realism and representations of nihilistic urban violence, and in themes that explored second- and third-generation black Londoners’ lives. Thus their mainstream profile in the British theatre industry marks a perceivable extension of the scope of (white) British social realism with stories informed by their own cultures and communities.

This book aims to examine that shift and explore the theoretical approaches that we might use to analyse this new raft of plays. I use plays by Agbaje, Kwei-Armah, tucker green and Williams as case studies to assess the increased prominence of black British playwriting in the new millennium and consider the qualities of mainstream success. I examine the efficacy of their plays that were produced in London between 2000 and 2013 for evaluating conceptual approaches for interpreting black British playwriting that responds to contemporary ‘black’ social issues. The key aspect of new millennial black playwriting that this book seeks to highlight is the way that these four black playwrights have tackled issues beyond concerns with identity politics of race and diaspora in Britain. I examine how contemporary black British playwrights’ particular approaches to staging topical social issues provide an insight into how they have responded to the challenges of maintaining distinctly ‘black-informed’ voices and perspectives while writing within mainstream contexts. Plays by these four playwrights exemplify how the politics of black British playwriting coincides with mainstream agendas, and can be used to examine the contentious issue of how political black playwriting resonates within mainstream contexts.

It seems to me that the combination of Arts Policy initiatives aimed at integrating black practitioners into the mainstream and performance trends resulting from major public traumas shaped the extent and themes of black British playwriting in the early twenty-first century. Arguably, the biggest impact on black British playwrights’ presence and the content of black plays in the new millennium was the racist murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence on 22 April 1993.³ The ramifications of this notorious murder and the subsequent high-profile public inquiry into the blundered police investigation had a momentous impact on race relations and race policy throughout the 1990s and into the early twenty-first century. Mary Karen Dahl places the killing ‘alongside Enoch Powell’s famous “rivers of blood” speech (21 April, 1968), the Brixton Riots (10–12 April, 1981) and the consequent Scarman Report (1981) as a watershed event in the history of violence and race relations in the United Kingdom’ (Dahl, 2009, 128). Janelle Reinelt also recognises the significance of the murder of Stephen Lawrence for subsequent race relations in Britain.

[T]he events surrounding Stephen Lawrence’s death at the hands of white racist youth became emblematic of the unaddressed problems of race within the U.K. It brought to widespread public attention a state of affairs that had implications for national institutions and social service sectors as well as ordinary citizens, and it addressed people through the images and rhetoric of family, of middle-class values, and of historic crusades against injustice. (Reinelt, 2006, 73)

The magnitude of the Stephen Lawrence murder case for British race relations must be acknowledged, for it arguably led to a country beginning to recognise the big issues of racism and discrimination towards black people, one of the lasting legacies of England’s colonial past that has dogged the country for centuries. In a newspaper article published to coincide with the verdict of the trial of Gary Dobson and David Norris, the Lawrences’ lawyer, Imran Khan, sums up the significance of the case in terms of race relations in the UK:

What the Lawrence case did was it made race mainstream. It made it something people had to recognise, acknowledge and accept. Before that, it was something that the left and liberals talked about as a fringe issue. Now suburban England had to accept that race existed. (Cited in Muir, Guardian, 3 January 2012)

As Khan suggests, the case raised public awareness of racial discrimination, while also leading to policy shifts, following Sir William Macpherson’s public inquiry report, which concluded that the initial police investigation into the murder was marred by institutional racism.⁴

‘Institutional Racism’ consists of the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people. (Macpherson, 1999, 321)

New millennial black British playwrights arguably benefited from the acknowledgement of institutional racism in a post-Macpherson climate. The increased visibility of black playwrights occurred following the noticeable decline of black British theatre during the 1990s, as many of the dedicated black theatre companies that were founded in the 1970s and 1980s lost crucial arts funding and ceased to operate. These market conditions meant that black practitioners became almost entirely reliant on recognition from the mainstream sector to find a place for black playwriting in an industry increasingly concerned with commercial viability. Following Macpherson’s damning observation that the police investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence was marred by institutional racism, other institutions examined their policies and procedures. Notable in the theatre sector was the Eclipse Theatre Conference and subsequent report. The Eclipse report came out of a one-day conference that sought to ‘encourage delegates to debate and become actively involved in suggesting solutions to combat racism in theatre’ (Arts Council England (ACE), 2002, 3). Although the Eclipse conference had originally been targeted at regional theatres, the recommendations in the Eclipse report arguably prompted an increase in main stage productions of black playwriting in London during the early twenty-first century as key venues, including the Royal Court, National Theatre, Hampstead Theatre and Soho Theatre, sought to attract new audiences that diversified the usual white, middle-class composition of traditional theatregoing audiences.⁵

The Eclipse report made twenty-one recommendations that are pertinent for understanding the subsequent boom in the production of black playwriting on the London stage, which are summarised in ‘Recommendation 20: By March 2003, every publicly funded theatre organisation in England will have reviewed its Equal Opportunities policy, ascertained whether its set targets are being achieved and, if not, drawn up a comprehensive Positive Action plan which actively develops opportunities for African Caribbean and Asian practitioners’ (24). Significantly, the deadline set for the implementation of the Eclipse report’s recommendations coincides directly with the beginning of the boom in black playwriting in 2003, which created an impetus for the continued presence of black playwriting on the British stage throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century. The Arts Council’s Race Equality Scheme 2004–7 (2005b) set out further aims to eradicate racism in the British theatre industry by ‘support[ing] Black and minority ethnic artists and organisations to enable them to create and develop projects that encourage confidence and self-sufficiency in developing arts for their communities and for society as a whole’ (ACE, 2005b, 4).⁶ Other reports and policies that contributed to increasing the profile of black British practitioners include the Race Relations (Amendment) Act (2000), the Boyden Report (2000) and Whose Theatre Is It Anyway? (ACE, 2006). Further initiatives include the Arts Council’s Decibel programme, which was launched in 2003 to promote cultural diversity through the regular showcasing of emergent artists, and the Arts Council funded Sustained Theatre initiative, which was established to promote connections and collaborations for a diverse arts sector in Britain.⁷

As Billington observes, however, ‘[n]o one could claim that there has been a total revolution since the Eclipse Conference. There still remains a shocking dearth of black and Asian artistic directors, chief executives and board members. But at least modern Britain’s multiculturalism is being more widely acknowledged and writers drawn from ethnic minorities are enjoying a higher profile’ (Billington, 2007, 393–4). Moreover, while these contextual factors offer an insight into the increasing number of black plays produced during the decade, they do not account for why Kwei-Armah, tucker green, Williams and, albeit to a lesser extent, Agbaje enjoyed a greater prominence over other black playwrights of the period, which is an issue that this book seeks to unpack.

The Stephen Lawrence case had a directly measurable impact on arts policy and it also arguably seems to have affected the topics of black playwriting in the new millennium, in particular heralding the prevalence of urban plays about vulnerable and disenfranchised black teenage boys and young men. The Lawrence case prompted open discussion about race ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Part I Contexts
• Part II Playwrights, Plays, Themes
• Part III Conclusions
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index