This week we look at the last decade of Black British theatre and ask: have things really changed for Black theatre practitioners?
We focus on two different plays: Natasha Gordon’s Nine Night, which is the first play on record by a Black British woman to be transferred to London’s West End, and Jasmine Lee-Jones’ Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner. We talk about how Nine Night captured the imaginations of both Black and white audiences, portraying three generations of a Black British family in the wake of the 2018 Windrush ‘scandal’, while discussing death, racial politics and funeral rituals in Black communities that are often misunderstood in 21st century Britain. We were lucky enough to interview Jasmine Lee-Jones about her play Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, which brings the fetishization of the Black female body and the appropriation of Black cultures to the forefront, all through the prism of Black women’s lives in the digital age of social media. 

Thanks so much to Jasmine for chatting with us!

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To listen to the episode of #HalfcastPodcast that we discuss, follow the link here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/52CxfXI0XMbgir8rwismYG?si=J1IqyYPYTdquoEdWkf54eA 

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References:

Gordon, N. (2018) Nine Night. London: NHB

Lee-Jones, J.  (2019) Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner. London: Oberon Books

Chambers, C. (2011) Black and Asian Theatre in Britain: A History. London & New York: Routledge.

Gentleman, A. (2019) The Windrush Betrayal: Exposing the Hostile Environment. London: Guardian Faber

Goddard, L. (2007) Staging Black Feminisms: Identity, Politics, Performance. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Goddard, L. (2015) Contemporary Black British Playwrights: Margins to Mainstream. Hampshire, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

McMillan, M (2007) ‘Aesthetics of the West Indian Front Room’ in V. Arana (ed) “Black” British Aesthetics Today. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp.297-313