SCHOOL OF THEATRE, PERFORMANCE AND CULTURAL POLICY STUDIES
PERFORMING ETHNICITY, CULTURE AND IDENTITY
Tutor: Dr Nadine Holdsworth
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Autumn 2011
1. With reference to TWO or THREE plays AND/OR performances examine the validity
of Tony Blair’s statement that gun crime ‘was not being caused by poverty but by a
distinctive black culture’ (Tony Thompson, ‘The Truth about Black on Black Crime’,
Independent, 15 April 2007)
2. ‘Although the blatant portrayal of racist images of Blacks such as that of ‘the slave’,
‘the native’, and ‘the clown’ or ‘entertainer’ may have disappeared, their traces can
still be observed [and] reworked in many contemporary images’ (Marie Gillespie and
Anita Sharma, cited in Navigating Difference, Arts Council Report, p. 72). Discuss the
relevance of this quote for TWO or THREE plays AND/OR performances.
3. With reference to TWO or THREE plays AND/OR performances examine how they
confront, reveal and disturb the residue of colonial subjectivity.
4. Examine the effectiveness of attempts by Black or Asian British playwrights AND/OR
performance makers to highlight the politics of hybridity, as articulated by Homi
Bhabha, in their work. You should refer to TWO or THREE plays AND/OR
performances in your response.
5. With reference to TWO or THREE plays AND/OR performances examine the
relationship between commodification and black representation
6. ‘Live art has been able to articulate, more than conventional theatre, the hybridized
identities produced within the context of alienation, fragmentation, and
disenfranchisement experienced by black communities’ (Michael McMillan,
‘Rebaptizing the World in Our Own Terms’ in Staging New Britain, ed. By Geoffrey V.
Davis and Anne Fuchs, p.58). Examine this statement in relation to TWO or THREE
live art works considered during the module.
7. Focusing on musical theatre AND/OR ‘binglish’, analyse the success of these forms in
theatrically capturing the history and presence of diasporic communities in Britain.
You should refer to TWO or THREE theatre pieces in your response.
8. You may also design your own question to reflect a specific area of interest in
consultation with the module tutor.
Essay Length – 3000 words
Hand-in date – Friday 13th January 2012