The last 10 years have seen a boom for black British playwrights, actors, artistic directors and others in the industry. What has changed on and off stage – and what’s next?
I left drama school at the beginning of the decade, when the the best you could hope for was “colourblind” casting. Plays written by black people, for black actors, performed on main stages, were almost exclusively written by Americans, with some South African playwrights. You did have exceptions, like Bola Agbaje, coming through telling authentic stories. This year we have seen black British playwrights really make their mark. The idea of black work being a “risk” is redundant – the numbers don’t lie. Black theatre sells, and we have shown that if the work is varied, interesting and diverse, black people will come. The excuses of “risk” and “sales” that venues have tried to fob black people off with have been proven to be nonsense, and are in fact racist. The artistic director appointments have given graduate Emma from a decade ago so much hope. I’m excited.
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