18th JULY, HACKNEY ARCHIVES
Mercy by Gloria Hamilton
Hamilton was Artistic Director of Umoja Theatre Company and wrote several of their plays including Success or Failure and In Nobody’s Backyard. Originally produced by the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs Young Writers’ Group in 1983, Mercy is set in Grenada against the background of Maurice Bishop’s bloodless coup overthrowing Eric Gairy.
Vigilantes by Farrukh Dhondy
Originally produced by Asian Cooperative Theatre in 1985, Vigilantes is set in East London and follows the journey of a young Bangladeshi journalist Hasna, who is trying to facilitate access for a BBC TV documentary crew, making a film about young people, to the community. Controversial at the time for Dhondy’s portrayal of the community and his stance that it is ‘only by looking critically at ourselves that you can advance theatre’.
One of Us by Jacqui Shapiro and Meera Syal
Written by Shapiro from improvisations by Meera Syal, this one-woman show went to the National Student Drama festival in 1983 and was later toured to audiences of young people by Red Ladder theatre in 1988 and was key in launching Syal’s career. It traced ‘Nishi’s life as she grappled with her expectations and the realities of the world around her.’
Glory! by Felix Cross
Produced by Black theatre company Temba in 1991, this musical won the LWT Plays on Stage Award and was key in launching Adjoa Andoh’s career, the play explore sexual abuse and religious repression against the background of Trinidad and Tobago’s 1930s struggle to throw off the paternalistic shackles of British colonial rule.
Soulnight by Tunde Ikoli, Foco Novo, 1986
25th JULY, CANADA WATER LIBRARY
in progress
Bhangra Girls by Nandita Ghose
Bhangra Girls (1989) was the first play commissioned by Red Ladder from an Asian writer and explores the experience of four young women, setting up a bhangra band and explores their differences and agreements over work, sexuality and their identity as British Asian women.
Slipping Into Darkness by Jamal Ali
A rich, poetic monologue delivered as a rap, turning a harsh eye on the underside of modern Britain, the play was originally performed by Calvin Simpson for Black Theatre Cooperative in 1988.
Take Back What’s Yours by Jacqueline Rudet, Croydon Warehouse, 1989
Take Back What’s Yours is a reworking of Arnold Wesker’s classic play Roots, set in Dominica.
Annie Domingo in rehearsals for The Carver Chair – with Stefan Escreet
The Carver Chair by Tyrone Huggins
Produced at Contact Theatre, Manchester in 1991, The Carver Chair is a sweeping family saga opening in 1935 in St Kitts, linked by the carver chair that was an heirloom from the last plantation owner, handed down through generations through to the Birmingham-born Black younger generation of the second and third acts of the play, set in 1956 and in 1991.
Madhuri I Love You by Parminder Sekhon
Originally performed as a solo piece by Sekhon herself, the play is about a young Indian teenage girl who writes to Bollywood actress and star Madhuri Dixit. It featured as part of the 2000 Watermans Art Centre festival of film, photography, dance and performance Sweet Like Burfi, a celebration of South Asian lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered art.
Reserve Plays 25/7/26 if time allows…
Ahmed the Wonderful Oriental Gentleman by Raj Patel and Dhirendra, British Asian Theatre, 1983
Raj – from Edmonton by Peri Allen, 1995
One-man show that toured nationally starring Dhirendra focused on sexual mores, desire and a radio phone-in programme.