Bright Young Things: Black Theatre in London 1979-1982

Interesting exhibition at the National Theatre looking at three black theatre companies in the late 70s and early 80s.

The show is based on the Michael Mayhew Collection which has recently been lodged with the theatre archive. There was a good leaflet to go with it which was helpful as the pictures were not very clearly labelled so you couldn’t tell which of the three main companies the pictures related to.

They rolling photographs were beautifully displayed on a back lit board like a roll of film. I also liked a display case in the middle with original negatives in it as well as Mayhew’s camera equipment. You could light this display up with a press of a button.

Contemporary artist Cherelle Sappleton had also been commissioned to produce a work for the show but this turned out to be a disappointing banner which I didn’t really understand.

It was a very focused show looking at a very specific period. It’s not a subject I knew anything about and I came away felling informed but not excited.

Closed on 15 April 2017

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