THE question of representation of people of colour on the Scottish stage (and, for that matter, within theatre audiences) is as complex as it is urgent. Where black people of African and African-Caribbean descent are concerned, there has been, in recent years, some incremental progress.
Black theatre artists based in Scotland – such as dramatist and actor Adura Onashile (author of black history plays HeLa and Ghosts) and Nicole Cooper (two times Best Performance winner at the annual Critics’ Awards For Theatre In Scotland) – have come to the fore. Writer and performer Hannah Lavery’s theatrical monologue The Drift is a recent highlight.
Both Onashile and Cooper have achieved prominence partly through playing parts (such as the lead role in Euripides’s Greek classic Medea) that have historically been reserved for white actors.
