Black Plays - Coups and Calypsos

This session focuses on the position of the Caribbean Carnival, which since the 1960s has emerged as one of the primary influences on Caribbean drama. The history of Caribbean Carnival is linked to the enslaved population’s fight for freedom. Post-emancipation, Carnival evolved as an expression of national identity and for Caribbean writers the carnival trope provides a framework through which to examine the inequalities of the newly independent Caribbean nations. With guest speaker Joan Anim-Addo.

Plays covered: Play Mas by Mustapha Matura, Black Jacobins by CLR James, Maskarade by Sylvia Wynter and The Dragon Can’t Dance by Earl Lovelace.

In this series Natasha Bonnelame (until recently the Black Plays Archive Project Manager), will be joined by guest speakers including Lynette Goddard and Topher Campbell, to explore a diverse collection of plays from dramatists of African and Caribbean heritage. Combining performances, clips of past productions and lively discussion, each session will examine a topic, from decolonisation to sexuality, protest theatre to cosmopolitanism.


National Theatre’s Black Plays Archive
Many of the plays covered in this series can be found in the Black Plays Archive. This is an online catalogue of the first professional production of every African, Caribbean, and Black British play produced in the UK. In addition to the catalogue there are a number of contextual resources, including audio recordings of play extracts, essays and video interviews.