Media Diversified
Foregrounding marginalised voices
Phosphoros Theatre’s Pizza Shop Heroes is their latest production to feature refugees and aslyum seekers among the cast. Sabo Kpade meets the players and asks how their own personal stories brings truth to the production The hot topics of immigration and integration reaches new levels of urgency in Pizza Shop Heroes, the third play by… Read More
Theatre-maker and writer Naomi Joseph discusses her experiences as an artist in the performing arts – while lack of representation is one issue, challenges about being pigeonholed are another. Main image: A Letitia Wright in The Convert, written by Danai Gurira Much has been said about the representation of people of colour in the arts.… Read More
Media Diversified founder Samantha Asumadu on what feels like a burgeoning movement for black, brown and Asian theatre makers. There are a few perks to being the founder of Media Diversified and this week that perk was getting to see Barry Jenkins’ feature film If Beale Street Could Talk. It is in effect one of… Read More
It’s on us. It’s always been on us. From Claudia Jones to Michael X, from Frank Crichlow to Darcus Howe to Doreen and Neville Lawrence, there is a rich and fierce tradition of resistance that has defined the past century in this great city. 2016 was a significant year in the UK. Following the Brexit… Read More
by Zahra Dalilah When Madani Younis stepped into the role of Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre in 2012, he became the first person of colour to run a theatre building in London’s history. Under no illusions as to just how radically things were changing, Younis began laying the foundations for what in 2017 has… Read More
by Zahra Dalilah Women and men of mixed heritage, especially black/white, are often called upon in media to provide an inoffensive face of diversity, a fetishized vision of exotic beauty or simplistically characterised as inherently confused halves of one thing or the other. The play #HashtagLightie – which recently sold out the Arcola Theatre, London… Read More
“What will the future hold when someone who hasn’t been brought up ‘correctly’ takes over?” by Kelly Kanayama This is Part 2 of a two-part interview series with actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company. (Part 1 with King Lear‘s Clarence Smith is here.) I spoke to Natalie Simpson, who recently played Ophelia in Hamlet and is currently playing Cordelia in… Read More
“Playing any Shakespeare character when you are black…always challenges the idea of what is acceptable” by Kelly Kanayama This two-part interview series came about after the Royal Shakespeare Company offered us the chance to speak with their actors about their work. I started out by chatting to Clarence Smith, a veteran of stage, film and TV who plays… Read More
by Sabo Kpade The Artistic Director of Eclipse Theatre Company talks about the Arts Council-funded project Revolution Mix, and reflects on her eighteen years in the industry. Tell us a bit about Revolution Mix. What does the project hope to achieve? It’s about inclusiveness. It’s about legacy. It’s about trying to tackle the sort… Read More
by Kelly Kanayama Gregory Doran, the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, came under fire recently for a Times article entitled “Lack of diversity not a problem, says RSC boss”. The article stated that Doran “did not want the middle classes sidelined” and wanted to maintain “equal rights” for “those of us who are white… Read More
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