#BlackIs... at the Pleasance Theatre

As my first ever play, I was extremely proud for #BlackIs... to be the first.

Below Nuna tells us about her experince in directing our show #BlackIs…, from it starting out in our Black Is Safe sessions to becoming a show we presented t=at the Pleasance Theatre in the summer.

My biggest achievement was being able to capture the cast’s voices, their personalities and their energy. This could only happen because of the long-term work we do with the young people and the ownership we allow them to have to say yes and no to the work.

#BlackIs... was a real testament to everything we stand for in the company, it was a young person led group that was created out of the trauma and wave of race conversations that spiralled during the summer of 2020. Despite the world (what felt like the world) wanting to talk about racism like it was a new phenomenon, it was clear that our young Black people still required their own spaces to reflect and talk about it all.

We took our time with the project and had no big agenda in the beginning. The group felt organic from the start and stayed that way through to the end. Over the last two years together we ranted, got angry, laughed, cried, danced, rapped and played games. The members shared their stories, their passions and who they are beyond the colour of their skin.

As well as providing a platform for the young people's voices and stories, I feel we bravely explored how joy and trauma coexist by taking the audience on that journey too. I also wanted to inspire the cast with representation that they were not exposed to in everyday life, so we worked hard to ensure an all Black production team.

Initially the work being created was 'By Us For Them' , but as we unpicked why that was our goal we worked out that this response was rooted in the white supremacy system where we were subconsciously seeking white approval, understanding and acceptance. When we pictured an audience of young people that looked like the cast and stopped trying to explain or justify ourselves, the work shifted, our stories and our making moved to be ‘For Us By Us.’