Nuna Sandy on #BlackIs – Theatre Bubble

We spoke to writer and director of #BlackIs Nuna Sandy about devising the show with the young theatre makers at Company Three, making make work that is unapologetic in its Blackness and doesn’t have to explain itself to a white audience.

What is #BlackIs about?

#BlackIs… is the second run of Company Three’s play about 10 young Black teenagers from north London. Celebrating friendship, family, culture, joy, passions, their experience of racism, and the reality behind the preconceptions. The cast share with us honest portions of themselves and invite us to celebrate with them.

How did the company come up with the idea for the show?

We try our best at C3 to ensure all our projects are led by our young people. During the summer of 2020 there was a clear need for our Black members to have a space to talk freely as well as escape the constant chatter around race.

I spoke to the team who were incredibly supportive and I started an affinity group called Black Is Safe that was run by Black artists. I led the project and brought in Philip J Morris, Kenrick Sandy, Jade Hackett and Amber Evans to facilitate the first year with me.

We were clear that we were not therapists but were there to create a space for them to explore the joy and BS we navigate daily with the aim to then create art- this could be, monologues, poems, dance, rap, scenes etc.

We met once a month and initially the young people didn’t want to do a show, they just enjoyed sharing pieces to each other. However in 2021 we took 18 of them to watch Talawa’s Run it Back at Fairfields Halls.

‘I didn’t realise you can do THAT on stage’

It was the unapologetic Blackness of the show which didn’t explain itself to a white audience and it was seeing representation of stories they connected too that really excited them. They had never seen anything like that before.

When we had our first session back they came in and were like ‘We want to make a show’ we talked a lot about what kind of show and it was unanimous that it would be a #BlackJoy play. But there were debates about whether we could make a play about being Black teenagers in London without talking about some of the shit stuff. We came to the conclusion that we would include some of the tougher stuff however, the beginning, middle and end of the play had to celebrate our joy, ourselves and our culture.

How did you make the show, what was the process?

During our monthly sessions we played, danced, talked, wrote, cried, recorded voice notes, drew, laughed and played some more. We all made notes of everything that stood out in all these moments. I then accumulated everything together and created a play template or I as I’ve been saying ‘the slices of bread’ then, with the cast we co created and filled it together with their choice of fillings.

It was important for me to have an all Black production team as I wanted the young people to see themselves off stage too. Our producer Shereen Hamilton did a great job creating the team.

Sadeysa Greenway Bailey was the first creative involved and came on board as our Set and costume designer. She attended our RnD sessions in the holiday periods and got to know the young people over the course of the year. This meant that not only was she able to capture the mood of the play but also the vibe of each young person.

We had a brilliant dramaturg, Sabrina Richmond who helped chop all the crust off which can be difficult in autobiographical work but we worked closely and honestly and always checked in with the cast who throughout the whole process where able to say yes or no to the script.

Music is such a big part of the play and so we were thrilled to have Mwen come on board as sound designer.

What do you hope audiences take away from the show?

Just how wonderful the cast are, that they connect with their stories and how timeless they are (that’s a good and bad thing) but most importantly how important it is to provide spaces for young people to be listened to and celebrated and the importance of hearing different voices on stage. That they leave feeling proud and full of joy.

What’s next for you and Company Three?

Next we have our brand new show called Grow Up which will be written and directed by our a Associate Artist Amber Ruby. It will be created simultaneously with three other theatre companies next year February.

#BackIs runs at New Diorama Theatre 13 – 16 September 2023, info and tickets available here