In the final episode of Series 1, we have a very special guest, the exceptional theatre director Ola Ince. We talk about her past and upcoming work, the future of Black theatre and what she wants to see change in the British theatre industry.

Ola Ince is a director and dramaturg, who is an Associate Director at the Royal Court. She has directed many brilliant plays, including Appropriate at the Donmar Warehouse, The Convert and Dutchman at the Young Vic. Thank you so much Ola for your generosity and for speaking with us!

If you want to follow Ola's work, you can find her website here: https://www.olaince.com/about

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This week we look at the last decade of Black British theatre and ask: have things really changed for Black theatre practitioners?
We focus on two different plays: Natasha Gordon’s Nine Night, which is the first play on record by a Black British woman to be transferred to London’s West End, and Jasmine Lee-Jones’ Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner. We talk about how Nine Night captured the imaginations of both Black and white audiences, portraying three generations of a Black British family in the wake of the 2018 Windrush ‘scandal’, while discussing death, racial politics and funeral rituals in Black communities that are often misunderstood in 21st century Britain. We were lucky enough to interview Jasmine Lee-Jones about her play Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, which brings the fetishization of the Black female body and the appropriation of Black cultures to the forefront, all through the prism of Black women’s lives in the digital age of social media. 

Thanks so much to Jasmine for chatting with us!

Go listen to #HalfcastPodcast!
To listen to the episode of #HalfcastPodcast that we discuss, follow the link here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/52CxfXI0XMbgir8rwismYG?si=J1IqyYPYTdquoEdWkf54eA 

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References:

Gordon, N. (2018) Nine Night. London: NHB

Lee-Jones, J.  (2019) Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner. London: Oberon Books

Chambers, C. (2011) Black and Asian Theatre in Britain: A History. London & New York: Routledge.

Gentleman, A. (2019) The Windrush Betrayal: Exposing the Hostile Environment. London: Guardian Faber

Goddard, L. (2007) Staging Black Feminisms: Identity, Politics, Performance. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Goddard, L. (2015) Contemporary Black British Playwrights: Margins to Mainstream. Hampshire, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

McMillan, M (2007) ‘Aesthetics of the West Indian Front Room’ in V. Arana (ed) “Black” British Aesthetics Today. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp.297-313

This week we have a really special guest, Mojisola Adebayo. We discuss ‘Afri-Queer Theatre’, Black queer stories in theatre, climate change and colonisation. Mojisola discusses their play Moj of the Antarctic, which was performed at the Lyric Hammersmith theatre in 2006 and Wind/Rush Generations.
Mojisola Adebayo is a writer, playwright, poet, performer, workshop leader, facilitator, and educator. Moj is a prolific theatre-maker, and has worked on projects all around the globe, including, Brazil, Britain, India, Malawi, Norway, Palestine, Sweden, South Africa, Syria, the USA, and Zimbabwe. They have written many plays, which have been published in Mojisola Adebayo: Plays One: 1 and Mojisola Adebayo: Plays Two: 2.
Thanks so much to Mojisola for chatting with us!

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References:

Adebayo, M. (2011) Mojisola Adebayo: Plays One: 1. London: Oberon Modern Playwrights.

Adebayo, M. (2019) Mojisola Adebayo: Plays Two: 2. London: Oberon Modern Playwrights.

Adebayo, M., Mason-John, V., & Osborne, D. (2009). ‘No Straight Answers’: Writing in the Margins, Finding Lost Heroes, New Theatre Quarterly, 25(1), pp.6-21.

Chambers, C. (2011) Black and Asian Theatre in Britain: A History. London & New York: Routledge.

Godiwala, D. (ed.) (2007) Alternatives Within the Mainstream II: Queer Theatres in Post-War Britain. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press.

Goddard, L. (2007) Staging Black Feminisms: Identity, Politics, Performance. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Goddard, L. (2015) Contemporary Black British Playwrights: Margins to Mainstream. Hampshire, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Johnson, E. P., Henderson, Mae, G. (2005) Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology. DUP

Moll, E. (2015) "Gender, Authenticity, and Diasporic Identities in Adebayo's "Moj of the Antarctic" and Iizuka's "36 Views"." Comparative Drama 49, no. 2: pp.191-224.