London theater slammed for emphasizing whites are not welcome at upcoming play
Caucasian theatergoers have been asked to refrain from attending a London play in July to ensure that the audience is "free from the white gaze."
Despite the claim by the Theatre Royal Stratford East in East London that "no one is excluded," the promotional materials for the July 5 rendition of American playwright Dave Harris' "Tambo and Bones" make expressly clear that white theatergoers are not welcome, reported the Telegraph.
The organizers behind the July showing of David Harris' "Tambo and Bones" seek "an environment in which an all-black-identifying audience can experience and discuss an event in the performing arts, film, and cultural spaces – free from the white gaze."
Nadia Fall, the theater's artistic director, indicated in an opinion piece for the Guardian that other theaters have hosted such segregated showings "for plays that interrogate complex and often challenging themes around race."
Extra to presuming certain racial groups require coddling around potentially sensitive themes, Fall stressed that the segregated performance in July would help address the "imbalance" of a historically "white-centred" theater.
In recent years, leftist segregationists have put on numerous "Black Out" special performances, both in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Jeremy O. Harris, co-producer of HBO's drama "Euphoria" and author of the 2018 Broadway-staged "Slave Play," told British Vogue in March 2022, "I do these 'Black Out' nights in America, mainly because I want to change who comes to the theatre – it’s not to say that white people shouldn’t be coming or that my play is only for Black people. Most theatre we see has a mostly white audience, so I want to know what laughs are different – because laughs are different; the space changes."
Harris admitted his segregated showings prompted a negative reaction from some black theater goers who didn't want to partake in such discriminatory practices.
"I was like, 'Well, I don’t really care about drama, we make theatre!' But also, that’s crazy that we can’t have one night where we just invite people that are cool and Black to hang out," he said.
Dzifa Afi Benson, a leftist poet, suggested in the Telegraph that the segregated showings of Harris' plays in 2022 highlighted the "ill-timed laughter from the majority white audience during press night at parts of the play that weren’t funny" and the apparent correct responses from the black-out audience.
In response to the theater's decision to promote segregation, Martin Daubney, a British journalist and former Brexit Party member in the European parliament, told GB News, "The anti-racists are the new racists. This is basically apartheid. It's basically stopping somebody through their skin color."
While certain of the racism baked into so-called anti-racism, Daubney suggested that greed may be closer to the heart of the reasoning behind this particular theatrical showing.
"They're doing it, of course, so we talk about it. They want people to be outraged," said Daubney. "They want people to be angry to boost ticket sales."
The New York Times published a damning review of Harris' play, claiming it lacked force and entertainment value. If prospective theater-goers are cognizant of this view of the play's many alleged shortcomings, then perhaps the racist gamble might pay off per Daubney's insinuation, insofar as it might attract viewers on the basis of the related outrage contra its perceived merits.
\u201c\u2018The anti-racists are the new racists.\u2019\n\nMartin Daubney gives his take on Theatre Royal Stratford East urging white people to not attend a play aimed at black audiences.\n\n\ud83d\udcfa Freeview 236, Sky 512, Virgin 604\u201d— GB News (@GB News) 1684681314
The Telegraph indicated that Festus Akinbusoye, Britain's first black police and crime commissioner, similarly condemned the event, saying it set a "poor and dangerous precedent" and stressing "society is richer and stronger when an understanding of each other's cultures and stories are shared and heard. ... I believe the Black Out concept runs contrary to this education and enrichment ethos."
"I would strongly urge the organisers of this to seriously reconsider their decision in light of the message it sends, and the precedent it sets," added Akinbusoye.
Notwithstanding the accusations of cynical exploitation and racism, Matthew Xia, director of the U.K. run of the play, claimed it was "imperative" that the segregationist showing go ahead.
Theater is not the only domain wherein leftists have striven to segregate.
TheBlaze previously reported that esteemed New England Journal of Medicine has advanced a recommendation by California academics that medical schools should divide up students on the basis of their race.
Young America’s Foundation reported this week that 86 out of the top 100 universities in America organized segregated commencement ceremonies for the class of 2023.
While various spaces are being segregated on college campuses and class rooms are being divided along racial lines, in Europe, entire festivals have ensured racial homogeneity.
Despite the protest of Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, the Nyansapo Festival, which excluded white concert-goers, went on as planned in the French capital.
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