HISTORY AND CONTEXT
Explore histories that shape our sector
‘It’s not enough to not be racist. You need to be anti-racist.’ - Angela Davies
WHY THIS MATTERS
History is part of anti-racist practice
Racism in theatre and live performance is not just a current workplace issue. It has shaped who has been able to enter and remain in the sector, whose work has been commissioned and funded, how artists have been represented, and which people, companies and movements have been recorded.
We know that many of today’s conversations are not new and that wonderful artists and communities have challenged exclusion, built their own organisations and networks, documented their experiences, and created change across generations.
The resources on this page do not form a complete history. They are starting points for exploring particular artists, communities, movements and periods. We encourage readers to follow their sources, notice when and by whom they were created, and seek out work led by the communities whose histories they document.
A note on the scope of this page
We are aware that this page currently gives particular space to Black British and British South Asian theatre histories as these are areas in which we managed to find substantial, publicly accessible archives and documented collections.
This is not a hierarchy of communities, nor a suggestion that these are the only histories shaped by racism. East and Southeast Asian, Arab, Palestinian and wider Middle Eastern and North African, Jewish, Muslim, Roma, Gypsy and Traveller, Latin American, mixed-heritage and other communities have distinct histories shaped by racism, racialisation, antisemitism, Islamophobia and xenophobia.
Some of these histories are represented through the wider archives and further reading below. Others remain gaps that we hope to address and develop going forward.
We also have a page for organisations and networks supporting a wider range of communities: visit our Networks and Community page.
Current conflict, displacement and support
Histories of racism in the UK should not be separated from colonialism, migration, displacement, war and political violence. These forces can overlap, but they are not interchangeable, and this page does not attempt to cover current conflicts.
However, in 2025, we launched a hub relating to current conflicts and their impact on freelancers, including support, campaigns, terminology and region-specific information, visit FMTW’s Global Conflict resources.
About archives and historical language
Archive materials may use language, classifications or descriptions that reflect the period in which they were created. Some terms may now be outdated or harmful. FMTW includes these resources for their historical and educational value; inclusion does not mean that every term or framing remains our preferred language.
Formal archives are also incomplete. Some histories survive through oral testimony, community memory and personal collections, while other material may have been lost or never collected.
BLACK BRITISH THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE
Black British theatre and performance histories
Black artists, playwrights, performers, producers and companies have shaped British theatre for generations, often while challenging exclusion from mainstream institutions, funding and historical records.
The resources below document productions, organisations and personal testimony connected to Black British, African and Caribbean theatre-making in the UK. Together, they demonstrate why this history cannot be reduced to a single institution, city, period or story.
NATIONAL THEATRE ARCHIVE
Black Plays Archive
Managed by the National Theatre Archive, the Black Plays Archive catalogues the first professional UK production of plays written by Black British, African and Caribbean playwrights.
Its database spans productions from 1930 to the present across theatres throughout the UK, not only the National Theatre. Alongside production records, it includes cast and creative team information, interviews, audio extracts and resources for practitioners, students and educators.
Explore the Black Plays Archive
INDEPENDENT CULTURAL HERITAGE ARCHIVE
Future Histories
Future Histories is an independent archive and cultural heritage organisation preserving African, Asian and Caribbean performing arts in the UK.
Its work grew from efforts to preserve the dispersed Black Theatre Forum archive. It has since helped preserve and catalogue material connected to organisations and practitioners including Nitro, formerly Black Theatre Co-operative, Talawa Theatre Company, Temba Theatre, Black Mime Theatre and Alfred Fagon.
The website includes online publications, archive resources and a detailed timeline. Some physical collections are deposited with Goldsmiths, the V&A and other partner institutions, so not every item can be viewed online.
NATIONAL THEATRE ONLINE EXHIBITION
Black Plays at the National Theatre
Curated by the National Theatre, this online exhibition uses production photographs, posters, interviews and archive material to explore Black-authored work staged at the organisation.
It includes material connected to productions such as Leave Taking, Elmina’s Kitchen, Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads and Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, alongside contributions from writers and practitioners including Winsome Pinnock, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Roy Williams and Paulette Randall.
Because it draws from one organisation’s archive, it should be understood as one institutional history rather than a complete history of Black theatre in Britain.
COMMUNITY-LED VIDEO TESTIMONY
BlackStage UK
BlackStage UK is a documentary web series centring Black and Black mixed-race people working across UK arts and entertainment.
Its surviving episodes examine subjects including microaggressions, ownership of Black art and stories, equality, representation and whether highly visible moments lead to lasting change.
The original website is no longer available, but the project’s YouTube channel preserves the series. It is included here as a collection of first-person testimony rather than a formal or comprehensive historical archive.
Watch the BlackStage UK series
BRITISH SOUTH ASIAN THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE
British South Asian theatre and performance histories
British South Asian theatre and performance have been shaped by migration, community organising, anti-racist practice, touring, new writing and performance traditions carried and transformed across generations.
The term South Asian brings together many countries, diasporas, languages, faiths, cultures and political histories. It should not be read as a single identity or experience. The resources below offer different routes into this history rather than a complete record.
COMMUNITY ORAL HISTORY
British South Asian Theatre Memories
This oral-history project recorded video interviews with writers, performers, directors, producers and other practitioners who helped shape British South Asian theatre.
The collection provides first-person perspectives on work made from the 1970s onwards, the development of companies and venues, changing ideas about identity and representation, and barriers encountered by practitioners.
The project’s original dedicated website is no longer available, but its interview collection remains accessible through YouTube.
Watch the British South Asian Theatre Memories collection
NATIONAL DIASPORA ARTS ARCHIVE
South Asian Diaspora Arts Archive
SADAA collects and preserves material connected to first-generation British South Asian artists who came to the UK following Partition.
Originally established as the university archive SALIDAA, its collections encompass theatre, dance, music, literature and visual art. Theatre materials include programmes, scripts, flyers, photographs, and stage and costume designs.
In 2025, SADAA became part of Birmingham Museums’ permanent collection. The physical archive is available to researchers by appointment, while selected materials and historical essays can be explored online.
Explore the South Asian Diaspora Arts Archive
UNIVERSITY RESEARCH
British Asian Theatre Project and continuing research
The University of Exeter’s AHRC-funded British Asian Theatre Project ran from 2004 to 2009 and documented the work and histories of South Asian theatre practitioners in Britain.
The project became a foundation for continuing research at Exeter into British South Asian theatre, dance, music, diasporic performance and cultural heritage. The university’s current research page provides an overview and routes into related projects.
This is a research overview rather than a complete public archive, but it helps establish the academic work through which parts of this history have been documented.
Explore South Asian performance research at the University of Exeter
ILLUSTRATED HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
South Asian Theatre in Britain
Written by Dr Alda Terracciano for SADAA, this illustrated overview surveys key developments in South Asian theatre in Britain across the twentieth century.
It provides a concise introduction to companies, practitioners and the relationships between migration, social change and performance. Because it predates much of the sector’s more recent work, it should be used as a historical starting point rather than a complete account of British South Asian theatre today.
WIDER AND CROSS-COMMUNITY ARCHIVES
Connected histories and wider context
Anti-racist theatre histories overlap with migration, community organising, labour movements, feminism, queer and disabled histories, political activism and wider cultural life.
Some of the archives below focus on theatre and performance, while others provide the social and cultural context in which artists, organisations and movements developed. Together, they offer different ways to explore histories that cannot always be separated into individual communities or art forms.
ALTERNATIVE THEATRE AND ORAL HISTORY
Unfinished Histories
Unfinished Histories records and celebrates alternative theatre in Britain during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Its online archive brings together interviews, company and production histories, venues, photographs and guidance for further research.
Its collections cross multiple movements and communities, including Black and Asian theatre, community and street theatre, disability arts, LGBTQ+ theatre, women’s theatre, political theatre and theatre in education.
The project’s physical archive is held by Bishopsgate Institute, while a substantial collection of interviews and historical information can be explored online.
BLACK BRITISH SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY
Black Cultural Archives
Since 1981, Black Cultural Archives has collected and preserved material documenting the histories and cultural heritage of people of African and Caribbean descent in Britain.
Its collections include personal papers, organisational records, photographs, periodicals, ephemera and objects. Although it is not solely a performing arts archive, it provides important context for understanding the artists, campaigns, institutions and communities from which Black British theatre and performance have emerged.
The online catalogue can be searched remotely, while access to physical material is available by appointment.
Explore Black Cultural Archives
MIGRATION AND CONNECTED HISTORIES
South Asian Britain: Connecting Histories
Developed through the Remaking Britain research project and work conducted in partnership with the British Library, South Asian Britain explores connections among South Asian people and communities across the UK, and between South Asians and other groups, from the 1830s to the present day.
More than 750 entries cover people, organisations and events, alongside oral-history recordings, interactive maps and links to archival and secondary sources.
It is not specifically a theatre archive, but it provides valuable context for understanding migration, empire, decolonisation, community formation and the networks surrounding British South Asian cultural work.
Explore South Asian Britain: Connecting Histories
NATIONAL PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION
V&A Theatre & Performance Archives
The V&A holds the UK’s national collection of performing arts, documenting both current practice and the history of drama, dance, opera, circus, puppetry, comedy, musical theatre, design and popular performance.
Its collections include archives belonging to theatres and companies, personal papers, photographs, manuscripts, correspondence and designs. It also holds the National Video Archive of Performance.
The catalogue can help locate material connected to individual artists, companies, productions and movements. Many records describe physical rather than digitised material, and viewing archive items or performance recordings usually requires an appointment.
Explore the V&A Theatre & Performance Archives
FMTW NOTE
Using archives critically
Archives are shaped by what was preserved, donated, collected, catalogued, funded and digitised. A gap in an archive does not mean that particular work, artists or communities did not exist.
Where possible, use institutional collections alongside oral histories and community-led archives, and consider whose perspective is recording or describing the history.
FURTHER READING AND LISTENING
Continue exploring
No single reading list can represent the full range of anti-racist theatre histories, communities and perspectives. The suggestions below offer a mixture of accessible introductions, documented histories, critical writing, plays and audio programmes.
Some books may require purchase or access through a public, university or specialist library. This is a starting point rather than a complete bibliography.
Books and longer reading
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Theatre and Race, Harvey Young (Methuen Drama, second edition, 2025): An accessible introduction to how race has been constructed, represented and contested across Western theatre and performance. The revised edition includes new material on contemporary anti-racist and “post-race” theatre.
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Trailblazers of Black British Theatre: From Ira Aldridge to Cleo Laine, Stephen Bourne (The History Press, 2025): A highly readable history of Black performers, playwrights and theatre companies, tracing pioneers from Ira Aldridge in 1825 to the development of Britain’s first Black-led theatre company in 1975.
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Staging Black Feminisms: Identity, Politics, Performance, Lynette Goddard (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007): An exploration of Black British women’s plays and performance, including theatre, performance poetry and live art, with attention to identity, gender, sexuality and Black feminist aesthetics.
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British South Asian Theatres: A Documented History, edited by Graham Ley and Sarah Dadswell (University of Exeter Press, 2011): An archive-based history drawing on interviews and company collections to document organisations including Tara Arts, Tamasha, Kali, Rasa and Rifco, alongside British-based South Asian language theatre.
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British East Asian Plays, edited by Ashley Thorpe, Amanda Rogers and Cheryl Robson (Aurora Metro, 2018): A landmark collection of full-length plays by British East Asian writers. Its introduction also explores the histories and conditions surrounding British East Asian theatre-making.
Listen
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That Black Theatre Podcast: Thirteen episodes tracing Black British theatre from the early twentieth century to the present, combining social and political context with interviews and discussion of major practitioners.
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Raising the Bar: 100 Years of Black British Theatre and Screen: Lenny Henry presents a ten-part BBC radio series tracing a century of Black British theatre, television and film through archive material and interviews.
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The Next Act: British South Asian Playwrights: Conversations with contemporary British South Asian playwrights about their creative practice, the legacies they inherit and questions of representation, access, funding and the future of the field.
ABOUT THIS RESOURCE
How this page was compiled
This page was compiled by Freelancers Make Theatre Work as a curated guide to existing theatre and performance archives, oral-history projects, research collections and published resources. It does not present an original or comprehensive history of racism in theatre.
Where possible, we reviewed each resource through the website of the organisation, archive, university, publisher or programme maker responsible for it. We considered who created and maintains the resource, the communities and periods it covers, whether it presents first-person testimony or later interpretation, and any limitations affecting access or coverage.
Sources and approach
The page draws principally on:
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Archive and collection information from the National Theatre’s Black Plays Archive, Future Histories, Black Cultural Archives, the South Asian Diaspora Arts Archive, Unfinished Histories and the V&A Theatre & Performance collections.
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Oral-history and research projects including British South Asian Theatre Memories, the University of Exeter’s British Asian Theatre Project and South Asian Britain: Connecting Histories.
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Surviving first-person documentary material, including BlackStage UK.
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Official publisher and programme pages for the books, podcasts and audio programmes included in Further Reading and Listening.
Some projects have ended and some original websites are no longer available. Where surviving material is hosted elsewhere, we have identified that limitation alongside the resource. The survival of an archive should not be understood as evidence that a history is complete. What has been collected, preserved and made publicly accessible reflects decisions about whose work was documented and valued.
The summaries on this page were prepared by FMTW to help readers understand what each resource contains and decide whether it may be useful. They are not substitutes for reading or exploring the original material. Inclusion does not mean that FMTW endorses every term, interpretation or statement contained within a resource.
Last reviewed and links checked: September 2026.
Help us keep this page useful
Archives, access arrangements and website links can change. If you know of a significant archive, oral-history project or research source we have missed, or find a broken or outdated link, please email hello@freelancersmaketheatrework.com.
Please include the page address and a short explanation of the addition or correction you are suggesting. We cannot include every resource, but we will review suggestions for relevance, reliability and usefulness.