Abstract
This article examines short plays as a political aesthetic of crisis using examples from Black Lives, Black Words (2015–2017) at the Bush Theatre, London, which respond to concerns arising from the #BlackLivesMatter movement about Black deaths in police custody. I focus on Black women playwrights’ portrayals of Black mothers’ anxieties about protecting their sons, and of Black mothers and sisters grieving the loss of sons, brothers, and fathers in incidents where excessive force is deployed by the police. I consider how Black Lives, Black Words connects to the radical aesthetics of the 1960 s Black Arts Movement by promoting the use of theatre for activist purposes. I argue that the politicising potential of the Black Lives, Black Words initiative is accentuated by the use of a short play format as a political Black aesthetics for responding to contemporary crises. By analysing pivotal moments in a sample of the fifteen-minute plays, I demonstrate how the content of the plays combines with their performance styles to maximise the potential for audience empathy despite their short playing times.
About the author
is Professor of Black Theatre and Performance at Royal Holloway, University of London, where they research contemporary Black British playwriting with a focus on the politics of race, gender, and sexuality. Their book publications include Staging Black Feminisms: Identity, Politics, Performance (2007), Contemporary Black British Playwrights: Margins to Mainstream (2015), and Errol John’s Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (2017). They are currently researching Black British theatre directors’ processes and productions and a project on how race is portrayed in contemporary plays through such themes as race, immigration and asylum, race and the police, race and sport, race and religion, and race and the rise of right-wing politicians.
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