Plays about Black History

We know that Black History is not just for Black History Month and that Black playwrights have been writing about Black history for a very long time. Here are some plays by Black British playwrights that focus on particular periods in Black history or the experiences of particular groups at specific moments in British history. They are listed from oldest to newest by period of history.

The Black presence on stage in England in the 1830s

Adrian Lester as Ira Aldridge in Red Velvet, 2016

Red Velvet (2012) by Lolita Chakrabarti is a fictionalised account of the experiences of the real-life African American actor Ira Aldridge who came to England in the 1820s and found fame as a classical actor. The play is set in 1833, a high point in the campaign for the abolition of the Transatlantic slave trade. Aldridge takes over the role of Othello from Edmund Kean, one of the most famous and highly regarded actors of the time.

Watch: The Untold Story of Ira Aldridge

Read: Q&A Lolita Chakrabarti on Red Velvet

The abolition of the transatlantic slave trade

These plays challenge the exclusion of Black people from the campaign to abolish slavery. This campaign is often discussed as if only white abolitionists like Thomas Buxton and Granville Sharp were responsible for its success.

The Meaning of Zong (2022) by Giles Terera foregrounds the contributions of Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano to the campaign for the abolition of slavery and in particular to their role in the Zong insurance case. The Zong was a British slave ship which, according to the crew, began to run out of water after losing its course at sea on its journey from Accra, Ghana to Jamaica while transporting enslaved people. The captain and crew took the decison to throw 130 enslaved people overboard, still chained, in order to reduce the demand for drinking water. The ship’s owners later made an insurance claim for the loss of cargo which was refused by the insurers leading to a court case which Equiano, a formerly enslaved person, brought to the attention of leading white abolitionist Granville Sharp who unsuccessfully attempted to have the crew prosecuted for murder.

Watch: 12 Questions with Giles Terera

Read: ‘The Meaning of Zong: Humanising the Abstract‘

The Whip (2020) by Juliet Gilkes Romero dramatises the campaign to pass the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 and the compromises that led to enslaved people being apprenticed and slave owners being paid compensation by the government. Galvanised by a now deleted tweet by the HMRC about its role in ending slavery which drew attention to the fact that the debt incurred by the slavery compensation had only been paid off in 2015, Gilkes Romero deliberately foregrounded the role of formerly enslaved people, including a character based on Mary Prince, in the campaign and the fragile solidarity established between working class people and those campaigning against the Factory Act with those campaigning for abolition - runaway slaves, women and working class people in the campaign.

Watch Juliet Gilkes Romero discusses the theme of the play

Read an article about the inspiration for The Whip

Post Second World War and Windrush

Liberation (2025) by Ntombizodwa Nyona explores the tensions and hopes of delegates at the Fifth Pan-African Congress held in Manchester in 1945. The purpose of the Congress was to advance demands for the decolonisation of African countries and for the recognition of equal rights for people of African descent. The play dramatises the different views and ambitions of the people who attended the Congress and their intellectual and political legacy.

Read about the Pan-African Congress in Manchester in this article from Manchester’s Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Centre and Educational Trust.

Watch Ntombizodwa Nyoni introduce the play.