Contemporary Plays by Black British Writers

Travis Alabanza is an award-winning writer, performer and theatre-maker. Their writing has appeared on the BBC, in the Guardian, Vice and gal-dem; they had a fortnightly column in Metro, and have been featured in numerous anthologies, including Black and Gay in the UK. After being the youngest recipient of the artist-in-residency programme at Tate Galleries, Alabanza's debut show Burgerz toured internationally to sold-out performances, including at the Southbank Centre, to São Paulo, Brazil, HAU Berlin, and it won the Edinburgh Fringe Total Theatre Award in 2019. In 2020 their theatre show Overflow debuted at the Bush Theatre, London, to widespread acclaim and later streamed online in over twenty-two countries. Other works for theatre and live performance include for the Royal Court Living Newspaper, Paines Plough, Free Word Centre, Glasgow Transmission Gallery and more.Their work surrounding gender, trans identity and race has been noted internationally, and they have given talks at universities including Oxford, Harvard and Bristol, among others. Noted for their distinct voice, in 2019 the Evening Standard listed them as one of the twenty-five most influential under twenty-five-year-olds – as well as being listed in the Dazed 100, the Guardian asking if 'they are the future of theatre', and being listed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 List.Firdos Ali is a playwright whose full-length plays include Struggle (Talawa Firsts, 2015), The Wrong Way (Talawa Theatre, 2016) and 40 Days (2017). Her short plays are Stripped Black (Black Lives, Black Words at the Bush Theatre, 2015) and How I Feel (Royal Exchange Theatre, 2016).Firdos's short story Emerald Waters was chosen for the Bare Lit Festival, 2016. Her musical New Life, for which she wrote the book and lyrics, was showcased at BEAM, 2018. Firdos was named on the BBC New Talent Hotlist.Natasha Gordon is an award-winning writer and actor born in London, of Jamaican descent. Her debut play, Nine Night, was premiered at the National Theatre in April 2018 before transferring to Trafalgar Studios in the West End, making her the first black British female playwright to be produced in the West End.Nine Night won her the Most Promising Playwright Awards at the 2018 Evening Standard Theatre Awards and the 2018 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards.She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2020 for services to drama.debbie tucker green is a playwright, screenwriter and director.Her plays include: ear for eye (Royal Court Theatre, 2018); a profoundly affectionate, passionate devotion to someone (-noun) (Royal Court Theatre, 2017); hang (Royal Court, 2015); nut (National Theatre, 2013); truth and reconciliation (Royal Court, 2011); random (Royal Court, 2008); generations (Young Vic, 2007); stoning mary (Royal Court, 2005); trade (RSC, 2005); born bad (Hampstead Theatre, 2003; Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer); and dirty butterfly (Soho Theatre, 2003).She wrote and directed the feature film, Second Coming (BFI/Film 4, 2014; International Film Festival Rotterdam Big Screen Award) and adapted her play random into a TV film for Channel 4, which won the 2012 BAFTA for Best Single Drama and the Black International Film/MVSA Award for Best UK Film.Her work for radio includes: lament (Radio Academy Arias Gold Award), gone, random, handprint and freefall.She was awarded the 2015 Windham Campbell Prize for Drama.Arinzé Kene is a playwright and actor. His plays include Misty (Bush Theatre, London, and West End, 2018); good dog (Tiata Fahodzi, 2017); God's Property (Soho Theatre, 2013); Estate Walls (Ovalhouse Theatre, 2011); and Little Baby Jesus (Ovalhouse, 2011). He was awarded an MBE in 2020.Author photo by Marloh WolfChinonyerem Odimba is a playwright and screenwriter.Her plays include: Black Love (Paines Plough, 2021); Unknown Rivers (Hampstead Theatre, 2019); Princess and the Hustler (Eclipse Theatre Company, Bristol Old Vic and Hull Truck Theatre co-production, 2019); Amongst the Reeds (Clean Break, Edinburgh Fringe and Yard Theatre, London, 2016); A Blues for Nia (Eclipse Theatre/BBC); His name is Ishmael (Bristol Old Vic, 2013); The Birdwoman of Lewisham (Arcola, 2015) and Joanne (Clean Break, Soho Theatre, 2015). She is a winner of the Channel 4 Playwrights' Scheme 2016 (formerly the Pearson Playwrights' Scheme).Her screenplay Scotch Bonnet was filmed by the BBC for The Break, a series of short films.Natalie Ibu is a director, producer, curator and facilitator of ideas and change. In 2020, she became the Artistic Director and Joint Chief Executive of Northern Stage in Newcastle. Previously, she was the artistic director and CEO of tiata fahodzi – the only Black-led theatre company in the UK with a sole focus on new work.

'A must... includes lots of things to work with for classes in KS3, 4 and 5... as Natalie Ibu says in her Introduction, it's impossible to create a collection of six plays that fully covers what Black British writers have to offer, but this is an excellent place to begin'