New play to give a voice to Portchester Castle's Black revolutionaries
The National Youth Theatre, the University of Warwick and Shout Out Loud, the English Heritage youth engagement programme, have collaborated on a new project: The Ancestors, designed to reclaim a forgotten past, and give those involved a voice.
In 1807, a piece called The Revolutionary Philanthropist (or Slaughter On Haiti) tackled the provocative topic of the uprising of those enslaved in the Caribbean, but told their stories from a colonial perspective, and was steeped in racism. The play was performed at Porchester Castle in Hampshire, which served as a prisoner of war camp for those captured by English forces during the Napoleonic wars in the 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1796, more than 2,000 Black Caribbean prisoners were held at Porchester, including more than a hundred women and children.
The Ancestors has been created in response to that play and will explore the experiences of Black prisoners of war as well as enslaved people of African descent, including a clique of Caribbean maroon warrior women; a general of Haiti and his right-hand man; an ex enslaved couple reclaiming their land; a group of Black French Caribbean soldiers held captive in Portchester, and their wives travelling across the Atlantic to be reunited with them.
The play will also be staged at Porchester Castle this summer, from 19-22 August. Staged and created with a wealth of local talent as well as those from further afield, The Ancestors is directed by Jade Lewis, and written by Lakesha Arie- Angelo. The piece will shed light on the lost voices of women, with the spotlight on Black women in particular, and has been developed with the writer alongside a group Black female-identifying NYT members, local participants and director Mumba Dodwell through on-going R&D sessions.
CEO and Artistic Director of National Youth Theatre, Paul Roseby, said: “After our award-winning collaboration in 2019 we're teaming up with English Heritage again to uncover another important story from our buried past. The Ancestors will shine a light on vital lost voices and will be beautifully and poetically brought to life. The urgency of this work is sadly more poignant than ever before.”
Site specific theatre is always exciting but The Ancestors feels incredibly potent and powerful given the subject matter and the fact it’s helmed by a female led creative team. We encourage all our Besties to catch it if they can!
Free tickets can be booked here.