Beyond Identity Politics: Black British Playwrights on the Mainstream

Abstract

The first decade of the twenty-first century has been described as witnessing a ‘cultural renaissance’ (Kwei-Armah, cited in Davis, 2006, 240) of black British playwriting, exemplified by an increased visibility on London’s mainstream stages. This shift is arguably an acknowledgement that black playwrights’ work is of a wide significance that warrants greater exposure than can be achieved within small-scale black and touring companies. As Winsome Pinnock demonstrated in her article ‘Breaking Down the Door’ (1999), black playwrights have sought mainstream recognition and the production of black plays is often figured as a way of generating new audiences beyond the white middle classes who are the typical theatregoers at London’s mainstream theatre venues:

As one of the playwrights to emerge in the Eighties, I would say that I, like others of my generation, did not feel that my work should only be produced by the black theatre companies but that they should have a place within the mainstream. When a play by a writer like myself is presented on a mainstream stage, the profile of the visiting audience is radically changed. (Pinnock, 1999, 32)