im an actor and writer from london. this moved me in so many different ways, firstly it makes me so happy seeing people discover the joy in theatre its such a magical place ive written essays upon essays for uni about the beauty and nature of theatre and how the focus on screen and celebrity culture has pushed theatre to the sidelines (also the inaccessibility of theatre cant speak for america but it is quite inaccessible here in terms of cost but there are ways around this and i do see signs of things improving.) i was so moved by this piece because this is literlly how i feel about art, just today i published a piece on a review over a book i read (a little devil in america by hanif abdurraqib, which i really recommend. would love to hear thoughts about it from an american) anyways (sorry i ramble in the comments section lol) one of my main takeaways is that to be black is to be an artist which i felt echoed in your piece and i agree that theatre in africa predates modern and classic theatre and if it wasn't for colonialism we wouldve had works like aristotles poetics (the first ever dramaturgy book- or so they say) to show us how classical african theatre was shown. i read the struggle for black arts in britain by kwesi owusu which highlighted how colonists would use theatre and perfomance as a way of slavery, all of a sudden the white people were using them as entertainment not just in the sense where everyone gets something out if it but through degrading and humiliating similar- well actually identical to how minstrels were used in the 60s in the US. "deep are the roots, trailblazers of black british thetare" notes the caribbean influence on british theatre and how it changed the landscape forever i also really recommend this book to delve deeper into the history of theatre in the uk as it is still a widely appreciated night out for those who can afford it. all of this feels like homecoming, the more black stories are put on stage and the more black writers get recognised for their work and black actors are able to be platformed on stage we will be able to reclaim soemthing that has always been alive under our skin. thank you for this!
im an actor and writer from london. this moved me in so many different ways, firstly it makes me so happy seeing people discover the joy in theatre its such a magical place ive written essays upon essays for uni about the beauty and nature of theatre and how the focus on screen and celebrity culture has pushed theatre to the sidelines (also the inaccessibility of theatre cant speak for america but it is quite inaccessible here in terms of cost but there are ways around this and i do see signs of things improving.) i was so moved by this piece because this is literlly how i feel about art, just today i published a piece on a review over a book i read (a little devil in america by hanif abdurraqib, which i really recommend. would love to hear thoughts about it from an american) anyways (sorry i ramble in the comments section lol) one of my main takeaways is that to be black is to be an artist which i felt echoed in your piece and i agree that theatre in africa predates modern and classic theatre and if it wasn't for colonialism we wouldve had works like aristotles poetics (the first ever dramaturgy book- or so they say) to show us how classical african theatre was shown. i read the struggle for black arts in britain by kwesi owusu which highlighted how colonists would use theatre and perfomance as a way of slavery, all of a sudden the white people were using them as entertainment not just in the sense where everyone gets something out if it but through degrading and humiliating similar- well actually identical to how minstrels were used in the 60s in the US. "deep are the roots, trailblazers of black british thetare" notes the caribbean influence on british theatre and how it changed the landscape forever i also really recommend this book to delve deeper into the history of theatre in the uk as it is still a widely appreciated night out for those who can afford it. all of this feels like homecoming, the more black stories are put on stage and the more black writers get recognised for their work and black actors are able to be platformed on stage we will be able to reclaim soemthing that has always been alive under our skin. thank you for this!
oops sorry i dint mean to reply to this thread but hello haha my bad!
this felt so great to read!! and thank you so much for your recommendations! i’m grateful that you’re here 🙏🏾❤️🖤💚
I Love the way you broke this down in the area of the Art Form of Theatre, Great Job Jay💙💙🎶🎶
I Love the way you broke this down in the area of the Art Form of Theatre, Great Job Jay💙💙🎶🎶
I Love the way you broke this down in the area of the Art Form of Theatre, Great Job Jay💙💙🎶🎶
🥹🥹 Thank you so much!! 😭🙏🏾