This year’s Playreading Marathons will centre on neglected, never published plays from Black and Asian performance history in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Over two Saturdays in July participants came together to read the plays or hear them read – we aimed for everyone who wishes to to have the chance to read and discuss the plays, and to give feedback.
Audience responses contributed to Unfinished Histories decision as to which plays to take forward to full staged readings later in the year as part of the Events programme linked to our major FYFFI 3 exhibition Radical Rediscovery 3 and to the contents of the FYFFI 3 Scores volume of plays. More details soon… and linked Symposium on Fri 27th November (at King’s College) and Sat 28th November (at London Performance Studios)
The Project
The plays chosen depend first and foremost on our having been able to locate a script. We are very keen to hear from produced and unpublished writers, as well as actors, designers, directors about work dating from 1970 to 2000 with suggestions of plays we ought to include in these or future playreading events – and where we can find the scripts. We are happy to add physical copies or scans to our collection.
Microgrants
Playreading Marathon participants had the opportunity to apply for Microgrants to create new work in response to this important history. Work-in-progress funded by the Microgrants will be shared with audience as part of Saturday’s events at the Symposium in November.
Playreading Marathons 2026
Attendees could choose to read or listen.
Scripts are in many cases photocopies of manuscripts from the 80s and 90s, with stage directions written in etc, so were occasionally hard to read. If you would like to volunteer to retype a script please
email us: contact@unfinishedhistories.com
On Saturday 18th July at Hackney Archives, Dalston CLR James Library, Dalston Square E8 3BQ from 11.00 to 21.00.
On 18th we read:
Mercy by Gloria Hamilton, Royal Court Young Writers, 1983
Vigilantes by Farrukh Dhondy, Asian Cooperative Theatre
One of Us by Jacqui Shapiro and Meera Syal, National Student Drama Festival, 1983, Red Ladder, 1988
Glory! by Felix Cross, Temba 1991
Soulnight by Tunde Ikoli, Foco Novo, 1986
On Saturday 25th July at Canada Water Theatre, Canada Water Library from 11.00 to 21.00 we read:
Bhangra Girls by Nandita Ghose, Red Ladder, 1989
The Carver Chair by Tyrone Huggins Contact Theatre, Manchester, 1993
Slipping Into Darkness by Jamal Ali, Black Theatre Co-op, 1988
Madhuri I Love You by Parminder Sekhon, Mehtab Theatre Co. ICA Live Arts ‘Jezebel’ season, 1995
Raj – from Edmonton by Peri Allen, one-man show, 1992
The venue is opposite Canada Water station on the Jubilee and Windrush lines and the Canada Water bus station.
Please note that we reserved the right to change the programme and order of scripts if circumstances require.
Further details on audience feedback and responses to follow
For further information on individual plays see here
We are also producing a massive Chronology of work from this period across most of the groups Naseem Khan included in her 1976 report The Arts Britain Ignores: the Art of Britain’s Ethnic Minorities including African and Caribbean, South East Asian, East Asian, Greek, Cypriot, as well as Egyptian, Iranian etc and other work by writers based in Britain. The information we need is play title, author, company, venue and year. Plus if the play was published – where, when and by what publisher.
Any plays we discover not included in the Black Plays Archive at the National Theatre will be added and we are also gathering information and material towards an Asian Plays Archive.
Plays also includes live art and experimental performance texts that challenge the form of the play, as long as publicly produced.