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playwrites

Fringe Fusion:

Manchester, England

*Black Actors Development Theatre*

By Jeff Johnson..The Global Guy..page1

Formed during the 1993-94 Manchester City of Drama Festival, Black Actors Development Theatre is the brainchild of Andy Burke, a native Mancunian actor and producer active in film, radio and repertory since 1989. After taking his BSC in European politics from Manchester Polytechnic in 1988, and finishing a postgraduate acting degree at the Welsh College of Music and Drama in 1989 (Anthony Hopkins' alma mater), Burke began his acting Career in the Manchester "fringe" then moved on to more substantial roles in the city's mainstream, including lead roles in Marvin Close's "Working" and Lemn Sissay's "Chaos by Design" on BBC radio. But increasingly dissatisfied with both the lack of quality roles for black actors and "plays for blacks by blacks dealing with black issues," which in his view alienated a potentially vital black audience, Burke decided to organize a black actors company to "develop work that explores the unique perspective of being black in contemporary Britain."

"After all," says Burke, "five percent of Manchester is considered a minority. But only a fraction of that percentage is represented in local theatre."

Burke, with justification, underscores the racial strife in the city. After all, cases of job discrimination and prejudice by the police, the courts and social services are a fact of life for many "people of color." But Burke also readily admits that Manchester, except for a few aberrant pockets of segregation (such as Moss Side, a troubled, predominantly black public housing community, and Rusholme, an exotic, concentrated Asian section of curry shops and subcontinental fashions), hosts a lively, diverse, integrated minority citizenry. Factor in its thriving youth culture, with one of the highest per capita student populations in Europe, its reputation as a mecca for "indie" music, its punchy cultural action, its left-of-center politics, and it is easy to understand why Manchester - England's "second city" - is such an inviting place for actors, writers and directors to work and live.

But even with all these advantages, monetary support for the dramatic arts, decimated during years of Tory government, is still scant and especially hard to come by for small theatre companies. And because BADT is "project funded," meaning financial support and sponsorship must be sought for each individual production, not for annual or semi-annual schedules, Burke, in the early days, relied on popular and financially proven standards like Lorraine Hanberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" (The Green Room, 1994) and August Wilson's "Fences" (Dancehouse Theatre, 1997). Except that these plays, while dealing with sensitive racial issues and providing quality roles for black actors in the area, are particularly American and do not directly address the situation of blacks in Britain. So given his track record of successful shows and the interest he managed to generate for minority issues in theatre, Burke was able to secure funding from the Northwest Regional Arts Council, the Manchester City Council and the Foundation for Sports in the Arts for several new, more experimental collaborative projects by local writers concerned with local issues - Burke's original intent when he formed the BADT.

The next project, for instance, entitled "Black Love," scheduled for February 2000 at The Green Room, is a multi-media, non-linear script (still in development) by local writer Michael Harvey that explores the lives of gay blacks in Manchester. Another Mancunian writer, David Hermanstein, is also scripting "Caribbean Abroad," a play about the cultural displacement experienced by West Indian immigrants moving to Britain, tentatively slated for a fall 2000 run at Manchester's Library Theatre.

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