Two powerful and thought-provoking plays are coming to The Capstone Theatre to mark Black History Month this October.
Quiet Rebels comes to the Liverpool venue on Wednesday 5th October, whilst Windrush — The Betrayal is being performed on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd October.
Liverpool Hope University’s majestic Capstone Theatre, situated on Shaw Street in Islington, is back open from October 2022 with a diverse and exciting programme of live music, storytelling, theatre, dance, arts and more. The Black History Month productions promise to be two of the most powerful showcases during the season.
Quiet Rebels shines a spotlight on the forgotten stories of white working-class women who crossed the colour line to marry men of the Windrush generation. Defying race and class prejudice as well as social stigma, this quietly rebellious generation of women became part of the foundations of today’s multi-cultural communities.
The plot sees Detective Shade investigate the murder of Aileen Burnett – a white woman who married a Black man – in a dystopian England. Film, movement, and soundscapes with integrated creative access provide a powerful dramatisation of stories brought to life by Julie McNamara (The Knitting Circle) and Hassan Mahamdallie (The Crows Plucked Your Sinews) and a team of creative talent.
Windrush – The Betrayal, from Agape Theatre Company, tells the true story of how The Guardian Newspaper exposed the prejudicial and biased treatment of legal British Subjects by the Government’s hostile environment policy.
As UK Home Secretary in May 2012, Theresa May implemented government policy to reduce net migration from the hundreds of thousands to ten thousand per annum; a policy that came to be known as the “hostile environment”.
Many who had come to the UK legally as children, were harassed, arrested, detained and deported as the Conservative government targeted children of Commonwealth migrants.
Guardian journalist Amelia Gentleman brought the shameful policy to the attention of the nation and saved dozens of legal British subjects from “removal”. Award-winning playwright Mark Grey has taken the individual stories as reported in the National Press and woven a story that highlights the way that children of the Windrush generation were shamelessly targeted.
Tickets for both Quiet Rebels and Windrush – The Betrayal are available now from The Capstone’s website.
