My comments quoted in the Guardian (Suzman criticised for calling theatre ‘a white invention’, 9 December) obviously refer to only a small part of a larger picture. I was not, when asked on the phone by the writer and standing in a noisy corridor, about to launch into a wide discussion with her about the origins of all world theatre. Her question to me was to comment on Meera Syal’s plea for wider representation of Asian subjects. My answer was to invest in and commission Asian writers. There are many marvellously gifted Asian actors, of whom Meera is tops.
What I was referring to was a picture that I have of the West End or commercial London/ and British product. My impression is that commercial British product is very, very white – apart from a musical import from the Young Vic called The Scottsboro Boys. A pretty good starting point, if you are to avoid the pitfalls of a general history lesson, is the formal beginnings of English drama, and that, for my money, begins with William Shakespeare – or, rather, the ancient Greeks, as we still regularly turn to their plays if primal subjects are in favour. When managements start to invest in Asian or black writers, things can start to pop. The Royal Court and Stratford East already do a lot of this.
I stand by my comment that going to the theatre is a pretty white way of spending an evening – and expensive. Of course, if you can boast Lenny Henry or Chiwetel Ejiofor as your leading man, black patrons will no doubt come along. The play I have recently done sported a magnificent performance by a young man from the townships of Cape Town and, as I say, one, maybe two, black people turned up in the whole run. I was disappointed, if not wholly surprised. It was completely packed out with white faces.
But that absence indicates that going to a fringe theatre is not much on the black agenda. It is, therefore, quite apparent that work needs to be done at all levels to change this.
Janet Suzman
University of Cape Town
