Black British Theatre Companies in the 20th and 21st century

Today we are celebrating the work of Britain’s Black Theatre companies. The longest running is Talawa. Founded in 1985 by Yvonne Brewster, Inigo Espejel, Mona Hammond and Carmen Munroe. it has produced over 60 plays during its history including new writing, neglected works and reinterpretations of classics. You can read Yvonne Brewster explaining how the theatre company came about here.

A short history of Black British theatre companies

From the 1940s onwards there were a number of companies set up by Black theatre artists to provide training, peer support and acting and writing opportunities. These include the Negro Repertory Theatre established by Guyanese actor and director Robert Adam; the Negro Theatre Company, set up by Pauline Henriques and the Negro Theatre Workshop established by Edric and Pearl Connor. These companies were self-organising and self-funded.

In the late 1960s Black led theatre companies began to receive Arts Council funding for their work, first the Dark and the Light, then Temba and gradually many others. Through the 1980s there was a really flourishing of support and work which lasted until the 1990s when the Arts Council moved away from supporting diversity through funding diverse groups and began mandating diverse programmes from companies instead. This was not a successful strategy as Lynette Goddard explains in this article for the National Theatre's Black Plays Archive.

More about the history of Black Theatre companies from Second World War onwards here and here

A long list of companies….

Black Mime Theatre (1980s) formed by David Boxer and Sarah Cahn ‘to encourage the emergence of Black performers in Mime’.

Black Theatre Co-operative now NITRO (1970s) established by Charlie Hanson and Mustapha Matura

Black Theatre Seasons (1980s) run by Anton Philips

Carib Theatre company