Theatre’s planned ‘Black Out’ performance proves divisive

Theatres and arts professionals have spoken out in support of a theatre in London that has been criticised for setting aside one night's performance of a new play specifically for a Black audience.

Theatre Royal Stratford East, in East London, has designated a showing of Tambo & Bones on 5 July as a 'Black Out' performance intended "for Black audience members specifically", but has said that no one is excluded from attending.

But the concept has been criticised by some as exclusionary, with a member of parliament's Culture Select Committee describing the move as "misguided and a bit sinister", prompting an outpouring of support from the theatre community.

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Originated by Jeremy O. Harris for his play Slave Play, the first Black Out night took place on Broadway in 2019. The initiative was brought to London during the run of his show Daddy at the Almeida Theatre in April last year.

Matthew Xia, director of Tambo & Bones, said that in recent years a number of playwrights and directors in the US and the UK have "created private and safe spaces for Black theatre-goers to experience productions that explore complex, nuanced race-related issues".

"I felt that with a play like Tambo & Bones which unpicks the complexity of Black performance in relation to the white gaze, it was imperative that we created such a space," he said.

But speaking to The Times, Damian Green, a former Conservative Cabinet Minister and current member of the Culture Select Committee, said: “Putting on a public show and then asking people of a certain ethnicity not to come is misguided and a bit sinister.”

And Giles Watling, the Conservative MP for Clacton, another member of the Culture Select Committee and Chair of the Parliamentary All-party Group for Theatre, said: “Everyone, no matter their sex, race, or colour should be able to access all theatre, otherwise we risk putting people into echo chambers, hearing only one side of any debate.

"In a world crying out for unity and amity, I believe this is a big mistake.”

'Space for everyone'

Tambo & Bones, which will run at Theatre Royal Stratford East, is produced by the Actors Touring Company. It opened in the United States last year and is a satirical take on 300 years of African-American history.

The two title characters begin the play trapped as minstrels before becoming hip-hop superstars and later Black Lives Matter activists. It will run for 29 performances between 16 June and 15 July, with the Black Out performance one of two dates to have sold out.

The Gate Theatre, based in Camden, tweeted that its blackout performance of Bootcandy was the first to sell out.

"Holding space is so important. And there are communities calling out for it," the venue tweeted.

"Go see our pals @stratfordeast whether it's Black Out night or any other night. There's space for everyone."

Taking to Twitter, freelance theatre director Audrey Sheffield said: "This is incredible. Respect to [Matthew Xia] and the whole amazing team involved. I can't wait to come and see this and support all your brilliant and vital work.

And freelance producer Rafia Hussain tweeted: "Solidarity. Sorry you are having to deal with this manufactured backlash."

'Undeniably oppressed'

Nancy Durrant, Culture Editor at the Evening Standard, described the "fuss" as "depressing in the extreme".

In a comment article on the Evening Standard website she said the Black Out will offer an opportunity for members of an "undeniably oppressed group" to experience something together that has been made with them in mind.

She added that the audience would be able to explore the questions around it without having to worry about offending or hurting the feelings of members of the group that "undeniably oppressed them or their antecedents".

"Those white people who were thinking of seeing the show in the first place, most of whom are probably broadly supportive, can go and see it on any other night, among a mixed audience, and have their own experience, and form their own view," she said.

"I cannot speak for the experience of black people in the theatre, clearly, because I’m not one.

"But in this country theatre has historically been written and made largely by white people, and stuffed with majority white cultural references. That doesn’t mean that people of colour don’t understand it; it does mean that their own specific cultural references are, in the main, absent. Because I’m white, I don’t notice the lack; they do."

"If white people feel momentarily a bit left out by this one night event, so be it. Why do we mind so much? It’s never a bad thing to appreciate something, even something tiny, of the experience of another person.

"Acknowledging that this event might be necessary allows us the luxury of growth – typically, we still manage to get something out of it, even as we’re left out."