Black Plays: 3: Boy with Beer; Munda Negra; Scrape off the black; Talking in Tongues; A Jamaican Airman Foresees his (Methuen's New Theatrescripts) (Vol 3) [Paperback]

Yvonne Brewster (Author)

Book Description

Series: Methuen's New Theatrescripts | Publication Date: March 27, 1995

This is a wide-ranging selection by theatre director Yvonne Brewster

Boy with Beer by Paul Boakye is a funny and sexy story of a Guardian-reading gay photographer who finds his fantasy "African Prince" - "Boakye's writing is brash and exceedingly fresh…Boy with Beer has cutting edge" (Independent); A Jamaican Airman Foresees his Death by Fred D'Aguiar takes Yeats's famous poem and twists it into a rhapsody from a colonial perspective in WW2 Scotland - "A tough, warm and thrillingly individual play full of live-wire humour and athletic assurance…The writing is reckless but controlled, the humour dark, ribald and dangerous…simply bursts with that fiery energy of which true theatre is made" (John Peter, Sunday Times).

Munda Negra by Bonnie Greer examines the heart of darkness in Western civilisation - "Greer is clearly a writer of imagination" (The Times); Scrape off the Black by Tunde Ikoli is an East End mixed-race family drama - "Ikoli's play is funny, wry and at times positively searing" (Jim Hiley, Listener); Talking in Tongues by Winsome Pinnock explores issues around mixed race matches in modern-day Britain - "Winsome Pinnock, a writer of extraordinary promise, is here expressing with guile and tenacity, many unsayable things about sexual and social miscegenation…she writes with enormous verve." (Michael Coveney, Observer)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Volume 3 in Methuen's series of Black Plays provides theatre director Brewster's selections and recommendations; from Boakye's story of a gay photographer to Ikoli's East End mixed-race family portrait. These are strong, ethnically-rooted plays which speak of black experiences and modern English racial and social issues. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Methuen Drama (March 27, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0413691306
• ISBN-13: 978-0413691309
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,232,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ***** BRITISH BLACK CULTURE *****, April 5, 2000

By 

Kris Knauer (Poland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Plays: 3: Boy with Beer; Munda Negra; Scrape off the black; Talking in Tongues; A Jamaican Airman Foresees his (Methuen's New Theatrescripts) (Vol 3) (Paperback)

As a university lecturer in British Cultural Studies in Poland, I came across Black Plays: 3 in London, and bought it for two main reasons: Firstly, Paul Boakye's BOY WITH BEER, the story of Karl, an upwardly mobile gay photographer who has trouble uncovering the finer feelings of Donovan, his fantasy 'African Prince.' And secondly, because of Tunde Ikoli's SCRAPE OFF THE BLACK, an East End mixed-race family drama that leaves no stones unturned. As a million miles away from the stereotypes of black life so often portrayed on film and TV, our students were particularly drawn to these two very powerful, passionate, and amusing plays. As well as being critiques on the roles we adopt, the stereotypes we pander to and the fear of love, they are both very brave. Perhaps brave is the wrong word, but honest, which is so much more useful. I feel BOY WITH BEER and SCRAPE OFF THE BLACK are plays that will always come back. When they do be ready. The other plays in the volume were also very well accepted by the students. Winsome Pinnock's TALKING IN TONGUES alone would have been well worth the money. Since this volume is currently out of print, perhaps someone will publish these three plays separately! Anyway, it's good to see the reality of life in Britain looked at from other perspectives. We enjoyed it ... full marks!