[Ammi]

…I’ve read all of the reasoning of ‘Theatre Black Out…’ performances and as was said earlier in the thread…this isn’t a first, I think that 2019 was the first one so 4 years ago…?…anyway, this is a ‘black story’ written by a ‘black playwright’ and ‘addressing a black audience’ for that input dynamic…?….and because it’s felt that Theatre goers are ‘predominantly white’ audience, this is intended to create or balance that…?…to encourage a black audience into the theatre/theatres…?…so addressing an ‘imbalance’ as perceived, if you like …by creating and deepening an imbalance…by making that imbalance into a divide and divisive thing…?…as well intentioned as it may be, it’s surely very misguided and was obviously always going to be perceived as ‘extreme’…there were ways to do this that weren’t going to pull against any positives it hoped to achieve…many tickets could have been given to black clubs and organisations …it could be looked at as to whether the production could become ‘mobile’ and taken out to those communities also…?…there are ways that would have kept it all ‘about the arts’ and not just fuelling already highly fuelled culture wars that are present in in our modern day world….but this, I think…will just add to a divide that is already extremely concerning….this isn’t addressing, surely…?…it’s aggravating, whether unintentional or not…that was always going to be what we see…