Do you find this offensive?

[Meeting]

The Theatre Royal Stratford East is putting on a show and have blocked out 2 dates as "Blackout" nights where they encourage (but I don't think plan to enforce) that only black people may attend these performances.

I saw them discussing it on Piers Morgan and neither of the guests advocating for it were able to convince me that this type of segregation was at all beneficial.

Does anybody think this is a good idea? Personally I think segregation based on skin colour has no place in society, no matter who benefits from it. But I'm interested to hear from others who might away it differently?

Would you react the same if they said white only evenings?

It's not offensive at all

Blackout night originated in America, didn’t it? By Jeremy O. Harris, who wrote ‘Slave Play.’ He does a lot of work (including giving money from the proceeds of Slave Play) giving back to underrepresented people in theatre. It makes sense to me than an African American man who wrote a play specifically about the social and historical struggles of African American people would want the play to be specifically open to African American people, even at the exclusion of white people.

I can’t get worked up about it. There are many things I can access that some people might struggle to access. And you can still see the show if you want to do so.

I couldn't care less either way but that article says by law they can't ban people based on race and does make it seem like the only reason they aren't is because they can't.

And I fail to see how an all any race audiance could be described as diverse?

As I said I don't care who sits in what audience but some posters seem to be playing dumb.

No because I'm not a wuss

Strictly it won't be more diverse if it's targeting one particular race.

Bit like autism events, I can attend or just avoid that one to leave for others. No real issue to me.

You can't racially segregate in the UK lawfully so this is storm in a tea cup.

It will be more embarrassing if poorly attended I think.

It’s not a great idea imo.

Does it say black only...?

Or does it specifically say "no one is excluded from attending". Hmm its almost like your reverse racism claim doesn't work.

They also have a 'pay what you can' night. Fuck them trying to make theatre more accessible, right?

I suppose it would diversify overall. So that particular audience might not be very diverse, but it might encourage people who would have not been comfortable attending otherwise, so the audience overall (counting people from every performance) will be more diverse than it would have been otherwise.

But as @Freeballing said, it seems like that's the idea but they just can't say that due to legality

Oh yes, us poor, underrepresented white people definitely need this. The disproportionate amount of discrimination we often suffer just for being wh... no, wait a second. 🙄

Yes OP, YABU. Are 28 evenings out of 29 not enough? Did you plan to see the show on that particular night? Plus people of other races ARE NOT EVEN BANNED on that night. Jeez. It's embarrassing when people start the "but what about white people?!" nonsense. And I'm white.

Depends on the event I guess - I'm a man, and if something was 'women only' that interested me (and there was no good reason for it) I'd be a bit annoyed.
However we have a women's only gym locally which a great idea, because I'll be the first to say some men in gyms behave entirely unacceptably towards women.

I'm white. I'm not offended. This is the same as women wanting single sex spaces to reflect on issues specific to women - what's wrong with that?

Although with my cynic's hat on l think the inevitable row will boost the show's takings no end ...

I'm sure an audience of black people watching a performance is different to an only white audience - this may be even more profound depending on the production.

I don't have a problem with it. Same for sex segregation/disability/age splits. Depending on the production and the idea behind the concept of it.

@Freeballing As I said I don't care who sits in what audience but some posters seem to be playing dumb.

You might not care but plenty of people do. Many people who work in the arts spend their life trying to bring down the exclusionary barriers from previous generations and want people to see that it can be for all. As it stands, in the UK black and minorities are underrepresented as audience members. This is a 1 off event, 1 show out of 29, to encourage more black people to attend. The hope is that those people might attend more regularly in the future, making audiences more representative of the society the play writes exist in.

Even if the woman only night was two nights and you had more than twenty other opportunities to enjoy the event you were interested in?

Because that’s the situation here.

No one is being excluded

have you read what the show is about

I am not black I recognise this is emotive subject why would I left out or excluded

This. It isn't remotely the same.

I'm white and can completely understand 5he rationale behind this. I'd also welcome ladies only showings of shows that address issues pertaining to women primarily.

Seems is not the same as is.

More cynically, such an announcement will enable said company to meet the diversity criteria for funding from a whole host of organizations. This is a tick box exercise and highly patronising

Thanks for this, I couldn't find anything when I googled.

I don't think this idea is offensive atall. I'm white but would be great to hear from some black people. Do you like the idea? Would you go to the black out performance?

I'm also not offended.

My town has men only MH group, not offended by that either.

Seems fine to me. I understand that there is to be a Q&A after it, so people may be able to speak more freely and share their own experience. Just the same as if there was a drama about, say, PTSD following a sexual assault, it would be fine to have a couple of nights where the drama was followed by a discussion, that were women-only,

I don’t find it offensive, no. There’s nothing stopping me from going if I want to, aside from the thing that normally stops me, which is cost. That isn’t race specific though.

I do however think it sounds ridiculous. I imagine most black people who can afford to and want to will go to the theatre regardless. If they want to attract more people from ethnic minorities then they should probably look at representation, rather than just having a special Black People night. Cost though is probably the biggest impediment for most people who would like to go but cannot/won’t.

typical elitist response imo, coming up with some woke gimmicky nonsense, rather than actually addressing the reasons why certain groups of people are less likely to engage with the theatre.

@Lidlpopdrinker Cost though is probably the biggest impediment for most people who would like to go but cannot/won’t. typical elitist response imo, coming up with some woke gimmicky nonsense, rather than actually addressing the reasons why certain groups of people are less likely to engage with the theatre.

Save your outrage, they are also doing a 'what what you can' show.