Trailblazers of Black Theatre: illustrated talk by Stephen Bourne, author of Deep are the Roots, an odyssey into Black history on the stage

Deep Are the Roots celebrates the pioneers of Black British theatre, beginning in 1825, when Ira Aldridge made history as the first Black actor to play Shakespeare's Othello in the United Kingdom, and ending in 1975 with the success of Britain's first Black-led theatre company.

This event was organised by Black History Walks in conjunction with the Sarah Parker Remond Centre at U.C.L.

In addition to providing a long-overdue critique of Laurence Olivier's Othello, Bourne has unearthed the forgotten story of Paul Molyneaux, a Shakespearean actor of the Victorian era. The twentieth-century trailblazers include Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, Elisabeth Welch, Edric Connor and Pearl Connor-Mogotsi.

There are chapters about the ground-breaking work of playwrights at the Royal Court, the first Black drama school students, pioneering theatre companies and three influential dramatists of the 1970s: Mustapha Matura, Michael Abbensetts and Alfred Fagon. Drawing on interviews with leading lights, here is everything you need to know about the trailblazers of Black theatre in Britain and their profound influence on the culture of today.

Mr Bourne takes us on an illustrated tour of his new book and then take questions. 'Deep are the Roots' is published by the History Press on 7th October and is available from Amazon.

Other coming events from Black History Walks www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk

Black History Walks and Twentyin2020

'Black History Walks in London Volume 1'. This is part of Black publishing house, Jacaranda Books revolutionary Twenty in 2020 initiative to publish 20 books by 20 Black British authors in 2020. An unprecedented feat. 'Black History Walks in London Volume 1' is the 20th of that series but was delayed to this year due to the Coronavirus.

Other coming events from Black History Walks www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk

Black History River Cruise
18th Century Superheroine Sarah Parker Remond
Fibroids and reproductive health: new research from the Caribbean
20 Banned Black Films you need to see
Tracing the money of the slave owners
1968 Race Relations Act and the legacy of Black Lawyers
The sterilisation of Black Women without their consent and what can be done
The Gentrification of Peckham and Black Urban removal worldwide
Darcus Howe Weekender
Black Teacher by Beryl Gilroy the new edition
The British Black Panther Movement
African Superheroes Day
Kenyan Uprisings, through the Leopard's Gaze. (Twenty in 2020)
About the author

Stephen Bourne is a writer, film and social historian specialising in black heritage and gay culture. As noted by the BBC among others, Stephen ‘has discovered many stories that have remained untold for years’. Bonnie Greer, the acclaimed playwright and critic, says: ‘Stephen brings great natural scholarship and passion to a largely hidden story. He is highly accessible, accurate and surprising. You always walk away from his work knowing something that you didn’t know, that you didn’t even expect.’

Stephen was born in London. He graduated from the London College of Printing with a bachelor’s degree in film and television in 1988, and in 2006 received a MPhil. at De Montfort University on the subject of the representation of gay men in British television drama, 1936–79. After graduating in 1988, he was a research officer at the British Film Institute on a project that documented the history of black people in British television. The result was a two-part television documentary called Black and White in Colour (BBC 1992), directed by Isaac Julien, that is considered ground-breaking.

In 1991 Stephen was a founder member of the Black and Asian Studies Association. In 1991, Stephen co-authored Aunt Esther’s Story with Esther Bruce (his adopted aunt), which was published by Hammersmith and Fulham’s Ethnic Communities Oral History Project. Nancy Daniels in The Voice (8 October 1991) described the book as ‘Poignantly and simply told, the story of Aunt Esther is a factual account of a black working-class woman born in turn of the century London. The book is a captivating documentation of a life rich in experiences, enhanced by good black-and-white photographs.’ For Aunt Esther’s Story, Stephen and Esther were shortlisted for the 1992 Raymond Williams Prize for Community Publishing.

About the Sarah Parker Remond Centre at UCL

The University College London Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation explores the impact of racism - scientific, metaphysical and cultural. Part of the UCL Institute of Advanced Studies, they work closely with many partners on-site to provide a focal point for scholarship, teaching and public engagement activities that are addressed to various problems of racial inequality and hierarchy.

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