Black Theatre: A Cultural Comparison
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Date
2015-03-25
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Abstract
I will compare and illustrate the cultural differences realized in Black British Theatre as compared to African American Theatre. Black British culture is very interesting to me in that its origins are very similar to African American culture but its development was very different from that of African American societies. These differences are directly reflected in the plays and demonstrated in the theatre produced by each group, and in their subsequent interpretation. In my research thesis I will discuss several African American plays in comparison to Black British plays which will explore the differences between the two. Theatre has always been nurtured by the culture and society that surrounds it. It is, therefore, not a surprise that plays often reflect the histories of the cultures they reside within. Black British and American Theatre are no exception. American Theatre has been dotted with many black playwrights who have documented the history, struggles and culture of African Americans America and Britain have had a long standing parent/child relationship throughout the past that has recently changed. The cultural exchange between American and British society in recent years has been a constant back and forth flow of information, ideas, music, arts, trade and economics. This is especially evident in the later 20th and early 21st century. However, despite this cultural exchange the experiences of Blacks in America and Blacks in Britain have been distinctly different. Historically England abolished slavery in 1833, years before America unlike the United States, never went through a black civil rights movement. The relationship of African American culture and Black British culture is a strange mix. It is a dance of a close cultural exchange with a distinct separate evolution in which the two cultures separate only to join again and exchange their newly developed ideas. This exchange has been seen greatly in recent years, of each other African American Theatre has influenced and been influenced by Black British Theatre.
Description
Art/Architecture: 3rd Place (The Ohio State University Denman Undergraduate Research Forum)
Keywords
Theatre, Culture, Black Arts, African American, Black British