Plays for Solo Performers about Black History (2000s)

Blays for solo performers about Black History

Today’s post focuses on plays by Black authors written for a solo performance. The plays chosen in this post engage with historical Black figures and are listed according to the period they are set in.

Tituba (2016) was written by Winsome Pinnock for the women’s theatre company Sphinx. The play imagines the story of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible from the perspective of Tituba, the enslaved woman who worked for the Reverend Parris who was at the centre of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

Ever since she had read the play as a schoolgirl, Pinnock had wanted to ‘release her [Tituba] from Miller’s play’ and ‘let her tell her own story’. The story she imagines for her is of a woman who carefully plans and executes the destruction of the community in revenge for the death of her mother and her own enslavement and ill treatment.

Sancho: An Act of Remembrance (2018) was written and initially performed by Paterson Joseph. The play tells the life story of Charles Ignatius Sancho: a formerly enslaved man who was brought to England in the 1730s, ran away from the family he kept him as servant and became a prominent abolitionist, writer and actor.

The motivation to write the play came from Joseph’s own experiences of racism as a child, his frustration with the levels of ignorance of the historic Black presence in Britain and the way his skin colour limited his acting opportunities (for example never being considered for classical roles unless they were for a Black character).

The play was first performed at Wilton’s Music Hall in East London and has been performed many times since in England and America. As well as writing the playscript, Paterson has also published a novel: The Secret Diary of Charles Ignatius Sancho. You can read a preview here

Josephine and I (2013) focuses on the life of the famous 20th century actor and activist Josephine Baker. The play was written and first performed by Cush Jumbo at the Bush Theatre in London.

It begins with a metatheatrical framing device in which a ‘Girl’ arrives late on stage for her cabaret show and tells the audience about her enduring obsession with Josephine Baker which began when she was a child and first saw Baker, a filmstar who ‘looked like me’. As the show progresses, the Girl morphs into Josephine and all the other characters in the story. By the end of the play, Josephine’s on and off-stage accomplishments as an actor and activist have been clearly presented and the Girl’s dilemma about her career has been worked through:

You'd say, ‘It's impossible to be a “sell-out” only a “sell off”.’

Only you can lose your integrity.

You'd say, ‘Look how far previous generations have come and how far you could possibly go.’

You'd say, ‘This job is important because we inspire change.’

The play ends with the Girl singing ‘The Times They Are a Changing’.

Resources

Plays about Black History

Nina: A Story About Me and Nina Simone

Recommendations for contemporary solo shows

Misty by Arinze Kene

Chewing Gum Dreams by Michaela Coel - available on NT at Home and free for schools

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