Championing Black Voices and Stories 

The Everyman has proud legacy of showcasing work by Black writers and performers, collaborating with Black theatre companies like Talawa, an Associate Company of the Everyman. Together they co-produced Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame (1989) and Antony and Cleopatra (1991), the first all-Black Shakespeare in England.

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Never shying away from controversial issues, the theatre staged Jack of Spades by Ken Hignett and Norman Beaton (a teacher at a Liverpool school) for the 1965 Commonwealth Arts Festival. This powerful play tackled immigration and racism, telling the story of Jack, from Guyana, facing prejudice when he falls in love with the white daughter of local MP. With scenes of police brutality, the Everyman faced threats and disturbances including one night when a van was overturned outside the theatre which had its noticeboards and widows broken. Leslie Blond, the building’s owner, felt it was ‘an unhappy choice of play. We have had this sort of behaviour ever since it started.’

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There was less trouble when Julie Brown, World Disco Champion, starred in Disco Queen written by one-time porter in a Liverpool store, Jimmy Oakes (1980). Ken Campbell’s alternative to a pantomime was a modern fairy story of a local girl dreaming of becoming disco champion, where dancing provided an escape from inner-city economic deprivation.

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Local Black stories also found a place. The Youth Theatre controversially tackled the Toxteth Uprisings in 1981 in Suffer the Children. Deborah Yhip’s Soul Sisters Melody (1993) focused on Liverpool in the 1970s, blending oral history and music, to depict women’s lives. While the show was full of funk and flares, it dealt with serious issues – a black schoolgirl banned from talking in school about Angela Davis, black businesses being attacked by skinheads and London journalists making up sensationalist stories about muggings.

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The theatre also chose to mark its anniversaries with plays about the Black experience. For its 30th birthday, it staged Blues in the Night (1994), celebrating blues music and the voices of Black women. Maurice Bessman’s A Little Pinch of Chilli (2003) featuring Louis Emerick (better known as Mick Johnson in Brookside) was the first commission for the newly amalgamated theatres. A one man show, likened to a Shirley Valentine in reverse by a Guardian critic, it found Godfrey losing his job as a ship’s cook because of the influx of cheaper European labour.  Finding himself back at home washing up in a boarding house, he tells us his story while cooking a veal fricassee enlivened with chilli powder. Emerick also appeared in the same season in Fugard’s Master Harold and the Boys, a powerful indictment of Apartheid. One of the first plays chosen by Gemma Bodinetz when she became Artistic Director was the UK premiere of Yellowman by Dael Orlandersmith (2004). Directed by Indhu Rubasingham, this powerful two-hander featured local actor Kevin Harvey who had developed his love of theatre at the Everyman Youth Theatre.

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The Everyman’s on-going commitment to ensuring Black voices and stories have a place on the stage remains a cornerstone of its rich history, reflecting the diverse and vibrant community it serves.