English Taster Lecture

Date: Monday 19th February 2024

Time: 16:30-17:30 (GMT)

Who is this lecture open to?: Year 12 and 13 students, parents, teachers and advisers

Where: Virtual Webinar

Speaker: Dr Tomas Elliott, Assistant Professor in English

Lecture Title: Una Marson and the Birth of Black Theatre in Britain

The origins of the rich tradition of plays by Black British, African, and Caribbean playwrights in Britain and London can be traced to a woman whose legacy is still largely forgotten today: Una Marson, a pioneering Jamaican writer and activist who lived in London during the 1930s and ’40s and became, in 1942, the first Black woman to be employed by the BBC. Her trailblazing radio programme, Caribbean Voices, introduced many of the most important Caribbean authors to the world stage, but before that, she had been a budding playwright, responsible for writing the first play by a Black author to be staged in London.

This short lecture will introduce Una Marson’s life and playwriting, focusing particularly on her satire of British colonialism London Calling (1937). The lecture will recover the legacy of this remarkable female poet and playwright of colour, shining a light on the earliest stages of London’s diverse, multicultural theatrical history.