Rishi Sunak has accused theatres that put on black-only audience nights of being “divisive”, warning that productions should be “open to everyone”, particularly when venues receive public funding.
The prime minister waded into the row over the West End production of Slave Play that is to have two performances where only black-identifying audience members are “welcomed”.
The producers said it was so they could “experience and discuss an event … free from the white gaze”.
The prime minister’s official spokesman has described the plans as “concerning” and warned that “restricting audiences on the basis of race would be wrong and divisive”.
“The PM is a big supporter of the arts and he believes that the arts should be inclusive and open to everyone, particularly where those arts venues are in receipt of public funding,” he said.
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So-called Black Out nights have become increasingly popular in recent years. Publicly funded companies which have hosted them included Lyric Hammersmith, Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Almeida Theatre in Islington, north London.
Sunak’s spokesman suggested that such events could be taken into account in the future when funding decisions are made.
“It’s a statement of principle that clearly the arts should be inclusive, and that taxpayers would particularly expect that to be the case when public funding is involved,” he said.
Slave Play, which received 12 Tony nominations in the United States in 2021, revolves around three interracial couples role-playing while on a plantation.
It stars Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, and will offer two performances specifically for an “all black-identifying audience”.
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It is understood that such an audience would be achieved by distributing invitation-only tickets through black community groups, rather than by turning white people away, which would prove legally problematic.
Jeremy O Harris, the writer of Slave Play, said that he was “excited” to be introducing the concept of Black Out performances to the West End.
“In most places in the West, poor people and black people have been told that they do not belong inside the theatre,” he said.
He added that there was a “litany of places in our country [the US] that are generally only inhabited by white people”.
Conservative MPs have previously criticised the practice. Damian Green, a member of the culture select committee, said last year: “Putting on a public show and then asking people of a certain ethnicity not to come is misguided and a bit sinister.”
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His committee colleague Giles Watling described the performances as a “big mistake”, saying: “Everyone, no matter their sex, race or colour should be able to access all theatre, otherwise we risk putting people into echo chambers, hearing only one side of any debate.”
