Slave Play : No. 10 only criticizes black audiences

A West End production of Slave Play that plans to host some performances for black audiences only has been criticized by Downing Street as “wrong and divisive”.

the Noel Coward Theatre Two “Black Out” shows will be held only for “all-Black-identifying audiences.”

Set on a plantation in the Old American South, the controversial play explores “race, identity and gender.”

Written by American actor and playwright Jeremy O. Harris, it has received more Tony nominations than any other play.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's official spokesman said media reports that some of the offers were “devoid of a white gaze” were “concerning” and No10 was seeking more information.

The spokesman said: “The Prime Minister is a huge supporter of the arts and believes the arts should be inclusive and open to all, especially when these arts venues receive public funding.”

“Restricting audiences based on race would be wrong and divisive.”

Slave Play producers told BBC News: “The aim is to celebrate the play with as wide an audience as possible.

“We want to increase access to theater for everyone.

“The Broadway production envisioned Black Out Nights and we are carefully considering how to incorporate this endeavor as part of two shows in our 13-week run.

“We will be releasing more details soon. To be absolutely clear, no one will be banned or restricted from attending any Slave Play performance.”

“The idea of ​​Black Out Night is to say: This is a night where we specifically invite Black people to fill the space, to feel safe with a lot of other Black people in a space where they often don't feel safe.”

“I think one of the things we have to remember is that people have to be radically invited into a place to know that they belong. In most places in the West, poor people and black people have been told that they don't belong. They belong inside the theater.

“In America, Jim Crow existed to literally tell them that they couldn't sit on the same stage as white people.

“As someone who wants and longs for the presence of black and colored people in theatre, who comes from a working-class background, and who also wants people who make no more than six figures a year to feel like theater is a place for them, it is essential to radically invite them through initiatives that say ‘You are invited . “You specifically.”

Harris on Thursday also defended the Black Out decision on social media after he was criticized by some users on X, formerly Twitter, for allegedly being “racist against white people.”

“I don't have to imagine that the roles were reversed in my grandparents' lives and worse,” he wrote on X.

“I'm not even just saying black people, I'm saying I invite black people first! They can bring their white friends or lovers if they want. There's no color bar. But there is a color bar in the UK recently!”

The 34-year-old actor said he “does not underestimate the fact that this is one of the rare plays by a black author that has made its way to the West End.”

“I am so grateful for the recent paths blazed by countless Black British writers who have paved the way for Black writers and audiences in the West End such as Arinze Kane, Kwame Kwei Armah, Tyrell Williams, Ryan Calais Cameron and Natasha Gordon.

“I hope that, with this production, more works by writers of color will find support on our biggest commercial platforms.”

In a BBC interview with World at One host Sarah Montagu, he acknowledged the controversy Slave Play had generated, including petitions for it not to be shown.

“I think all of these things are really beautiful and necessary,” he told the BBC. “Difficult questions should elicit loud responses, both celebration and censorship, right?”

When asked if he thought the response to the play in the United Kingdom would be different from that in the United States, especially regarding issues of race, Harris responded that he was “not sure.”

“There is a very clear reason why British audiences or British theater makers might feel as if racist rhetoric is being outsourced to American writers,” he told the BBC after a pause.

“The race plays that happen here, or the plays where race is central to the themes, are often written by black writers. I know that a lot of the black British writers I’m friends with feel kind of frustrated and alienated by that.

“So I hope this is an invitation for more plays by black Britons to come and have those conversations.”

Playing Slaves received 12 nominations at the 74th Tony Awards, breaking the record previously held by the revival of Angels in America. He did not achieve any victories.

The cast includes Game of Thrones star Kit Harington and Denzel Washington's daughter, Olivia Washington.

in Interview with The Guardian In one newspaper, Harris criticized commercial theater based on celebrity casting because it made people treat the theater “like a Disney World attraction, where the play is a backdrop to the amusement of seeing their favorite celebrities before them.”

But Harris believes Harrington will not be a “distraction” as he is not a main character in the play and was impressed with his acting.

“It's very expensive,” he told the BBC.

I didn't see my first play on Broadway until a year before it ran on Broadway. And I only got to see it because I was going to Yale, and someone else bought my ticket for me. But I'm not someone who grew up seeing a play. “That's why I love British theater so much because I knew the plays from reading them.”

Harris' producers appear to have allocated more than 200 tickets a week starting at £1 with some seats priced at £20.

Slave Play is scheduled to premiere in the UK on June 29. It will continue until September 21. The two Black Out nights scheduled are July 17 and September 17.