From pantomimes in church halls to adaptations of books in provincial theatres to RSC productions at the Barbican, I have enjoyed a lot of theatre in my time. Who my fellow audience members might be has never determined whether I watch a play or not. Even school children at matinees do not put me off and to be fair to the kids, I have witnessed few instances of poor behaviour. I watch plays because I like them or they have been recommended to me. Theatres are public spaces where everyone ought to be welcome, though some ticket prices can be prohibitive. It has therefore come as a shock to hear of identity politics’ latest wheeze, which is to make some performances available only to those who ‘identify’ as black.
For any reasonable person, this is segregation determined by ethnicity and skin colour and something that was rightly abolished in the Deep South and South Africa. Britain, by the way, has never by law segregated people. When African American troops were stationed in Britain during the Second World War, their experience of Britain’s unsegregated society helped to ignite the Civil Rights movement.
However, it seems that segregation has come to the West End. The Noël Coward Theatre is presenting Slave Play this summer and autumn. For two nights, 17 July and 17 September, the theatre will only open its doors to people who identify as black. These nights are known as ‘Black Out’ nights.
The writer of Slave Play, Jeremy O Harris, sees no problem with exclusively black audiences. For him it is a way of affirming black identity and a means of providing a space for black people to meet because they often do not feel safe. Black Out nights, according to Harris, enable black people to be ‘free from the white gaze.’
Harris is spouting balderdash. It is easy to imagine the justified outrage if someone suggested ‘White Out’ nights during which only white people could enjoy the theatre without being oppressed by ‘the black gaze’ and where they could feel safe because black people are not present.
There are other problems with his view. Who decides who is black enough? Where in Harris’ colour scheme do people who are neither white nor black fit? And what about black people married to white people? Dare they bring their spouses along?
Harris is also being patronising. Are black people so delicate that the mere presence of white people causes them to have nervous breakdowns? Granted, there are black people in Britain who have suffered racism’s trauma but most of racism’s victims do not write off the whole ethnic group from which the racists come. To assume that black people cannot make such a distinction is to treat them as idiots. When I commute each day, I estimate half of my fellow passengers are black. None of them as far as I can tell has felt unsafe in my white presence and cowered at my Gorgon-like gaze.
There is also the problem with Harris saying that Black Out nights are only for those who identify as black. If a white person who for some reason identifies as black came to the performance, would s/he be admitted or refused?
What is absurd too about Harris’ position is that his play’s co-star is Kit Harington who is white. By Harris’ poor logic, Harington ought not to be on stage for fear of traumatising his audience.
The theatre where Harris’ play is being staged is named after a white playwright, Noël Coward. Why does Harris not find that traumatising? By his argument, his play ought to be staged elsewhere and the theatre renamed.
There is also a great irony to Black Out nights being held at a theatre named after Coward. It was Coward who declared that theatres are houses of enchantment and temples of dreams and not drill halls of propaganda. Yet Harris and the theatre’s management will for two nights turn an alluring auditorium into a sordid soapbox for his so-called progressive politics.
Harris’ assertions might be dismissed as cranky, but what is troubling is that Black Out nights are becoming more common. Take, for instance, the Almeida Theatre’s decision to have a Black Out performance of another of Harris’ plays called Daddy in 2022. In summer 2023, Theatre Royal Stratford East held a Black Out performance of Tambo and Bones with the same spurious and offensive justification that Harris gives: so that black people can escape ‘the white gaze.’
Harris and those who share his approach are spitting on history. Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr, for example, was slain in 1968 for campaigning successfully against segregation. Now, it is being brought back, but this time in black people’s favour (though doing them no favours at all). It is discrimination and it needs to stop.
Peter Harris is the author of two books, The Rage Against the Light: Why Christopher Hitchens Was Wrong (2019) and Do You Believe It? A Guide to a Reasonable Christian Faith (2020).
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The sad part about all this activist virtue signalling is that, generally, the “oppressed minority” don’t want any of this BS anyway. The result unfortunately is we are driven further apart. The same can be said for the “alphabet people” et al.
It’s the same old activist meme of signalling to their own “in” group demonstrating their fealty to them and sharing their belief in their own moral superiority.
The only way to deal with this is to boycott the other days and hopefully reality will step in and eventually put an end to this b…..ks. Maybe then we can all come together and live with each other without listening to this constant background whine.
I completely agree with you.
Since the author of the play is talking about two ‘black only’ nights in July and September, he’s expecting his play to have a fairly long run, possibly because of Kit Harrington. I hope his optimism is rewarded. It seems most strange to me that after many years decrying apartheid, black individuals now wish to enforce it upon themselves voluntarily? Still, have at it! I wouldn’t dream of inflicting my my unwanted white presence upon anyone.