Fifty Years of the Fight for Inclusion III:
Black & Asian Theatre in Britain
Fifty Years of the Fight for Inclusion III: Black & Asian Theatre in Britain is an exhibition and events programme that includes a two-day symposium, and staged readings of monologues by Black and Asian playwrights.
The archival exhibition Radical Rediscovery III: What Survives? 50 years since ‘The Arts Britain Ignores’, which celebrates half a century of Black and Asian theatre in the UK, sits at the center of the programme and runs between 12 November - 12 December.
On 27 and 28 November, midway through the exhibition, a symposium of talks, panel discussions, and a long table, connects the exhibition’s archival materials and the work of Naseem Khan with contemporary practices. Speakers include Bernadine Evaristo, Shreela Gosh, Suman Bhuchar, and Tyrone Huggins.
The closing weekend of the exhibition, 11 - 12 December, is marked with intimate staged readings of forgotten or unpublished one-person plays, written between the 70s and 90s. This triple-bill comprises Slipping Into Darkness by Jamal Ali, Madhuri, I Love You by Parminder Sekhon and One of Us by Jacqui Shapiro and Meera Syal.
Dates and Times
Thu 12 November – Sat 12 December
Location
Various locations depending on each event
See full listing below
12/11
12/12
About
Fifty Years of the Fight for Inclusion III: Black & Asian Theatre in Britain is organised by Unfinished Histories as part of the Associate Artists Programme.
It marks the concluding year of Unfinished Histories’ Fifty Years of the Fight for Inclusion (FYFFI); a three-year research and presentation project hosted at London Performance Studios, initiated to celebrate the fifty-year anniversaries of three key moments in theatre history.
In 2024, the anniversary of the first Women’s Theatre Festival in Britain in 1973 and work that followed in 1974, was marked with a programme celebrating fifty years of alternative theatre made by women in the UK. Commemorating the first Gay Theatre Festival in Britain in 1975, the 2025 programme celebrated fifty years of LGBTQ+ theatre in the UK.
This year marks fifty years since the publication of Naseem Khan’s groundbreaking 1976 report, The Arts Britain Ignores, which highlighted the lack of institutional support that cultural contributions made by Asian and Black makers received.
Unfinished Histories was founded in 2006 by Dr. Susan Croft and Jessica Higgs and later established as an independent organisation in 2012. It is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the history of Alternative Theatre in Britain from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Programme
Thu 12 November – Sat 12 December
12/11
12/12
Unfinished Histories
Radical Rediscovery III: What Survives? 50 Years Since ‘The Arts Britain Ignores’ (Exhibition)
Thu 12 November - Sat 12 December → Opening Wed 11 November, 6 - 8 PM
27/11
28/11
Unfinished Histories
50 Years Since ‘The Arts Britain Ignores’: Change, Continuity, and Cultural Power (Symposium)
Fri 27 & Sat 28 November
11/12
12/12