Talawa Theatre Company

Talawa Theatre Company

The Talawa Theatre Company was founded in London in 1985 by Jamaican born Yvonne Brewster, Mona Hammond, Carmen Munroe and Inigo Espejel, becoming the UK's most prominent black theatre company. It has produced award-winning plays from and about the African diaspora and has championed reinterpretations of classical British pieces.

The name Talawa comes from Jamaican patois, meaning gutsy, feisty. The companies mission is to provide opportunities for black actors, to use black culture to enrich British theatre, and to enlarge theatre audiences among the black community. [http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/timelines/black_performance.php?year=6&syear=2&] The company also run workshops for schools and colleges.

In March 2006, Patricia Cumper, one of Jamaica’s leading contemporary playwrights, became the companies artistic director. Previous directors have included the US-born Bonnie Greer.

Talawa's Mission Statement in 2007: "Talawa Theatre Company is Britain's foremost Black-led Theatre Company. We give voice to the Black British experience and we nurture, develop and support talent. We cultivate Black audiences and audiences for Black work. In so doing, we enrich British Theatre." [http://www.talawa.com]

53 - 55 East RdLondonN1 6AH

ee also

* Paulette Randall


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • black theatre —    Black theatre occupies an interdisciplinary space which integrates an eclectic fusion of Afro diasporic and black British literary based dramatic text, music, song, dance, various media, linguistic forms, live art and performance art. By… …   Encyclopedia of contemporary British culture

  • New Wolsey Theatre — A 400 seat theatre in the heart of Ipswich, Suffolk s county town, The New Wolsey Theatre was established in 2000, building on the foundations of the regional repertory company that had opened the theatre in the late 1970s. With a mission of… …   Wikipedia

  • fringe theatre —    Fringe or alternative theatre defines itself against the mainstream subsidized and commercial theatre establishment, deriving its experimental and political incisiveness through its own active exclusion from the mainstream. It challenges… …   Encyclopedia of contemporary British culture

  • Paulette Randall — Paulette Randall, is a British theatre director. She chairs the board of the Clean Break Theatre Company, and is former artistic director of the Talawa Theatre Company.Projects;Royal Court Theatre * Directed Blest be the Tie by Doña Daley (2004) …   Wikipedia

  • Mona Hammond — Born Mavis Chin 1931 Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, West Indies Nationality Jamaican/ Chinese Mona Hammond (born Mavis Chin) OBE is a Chinese Jamaican actress and co founder of the Talawa Theatre Company. Born in Jamaica, Hammond emigrated to the… …   Wikipedia

  • Ram John Holder — is a British actor of Guyanese origin (born in Guyana in 1934). He began his performing career as a folk singer in New York. In 1962 he came to London and worked with Pearl Connor s Negro Theatre Workshop initially as a musician and later as an… …   Wikipedia

  • Cy Grant — Born 8 November 1919(1919 11 08) Beterverwagting, British Guiana Died 13 February 2010(201 …   Wikipedia

  • Rose Bruford College — (formerly the Rose Bruford Training College of Speech and Drama) is a British drama school, offering professional vocational training for the performing arts and the BA and MA degrees. Founded in 1950, Rose Bruford pioneered the first acting… …   Wikipedia

  • British African-Caribbean community — For Caribbeans in the UK of Indian origin, see British Indo Caribbean community. British African Caribbean (British Afro Caribbean) Total population UK, 2001: 565,900 …   Wikipedia

  • Yvonne Brewster — Yvonne Brewster, O.B.E. is a Stage Director, Teacher and Writer. Born in Jamaica, Yvonne Brewster went to the UK to study drama in the mid fifties at the Rose Bruford College and the Royal Academy of Music. She returned to Jamaica to teach Drama… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”