About Us
The UK's outstanding Black British Theatre Company.
Our History
Founded in 1986 by Black artists and activists Yvonne Brewster OBE, Mona Hammond, Carmen Munroe and Inigo Espejel, Talawa was created to address the lack of opportunities for Black actors on British stages.
The vision was to diversify the theatre industry; making it fully representative of the UK’s population. This vision is as relevant today as it was at the start.
And though she be but little, she is fierce
Talawa is the only Black British theatre company that presents the traditional canon of British theatre alongside international work and new plays, with over 80 productions to our name.
Talawa’s work has encompassed the works of William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller and Samuel Beckett alongside African and Caribbean classics and new plays by Black British writers such as Roy Williams, Malorie Blackman and Michaela Coel.
Talawa has been a standard bearer for bold new writing that holds a mirror up to society, telling contemporary stories that acknowledge the breadth of lived experiences for people of Black African and Caribbean heritage and diaspora.
