Remember the good old days when racism and segregation were bad?
Well the London production of a hit US theatre show called Slave Play will hold two so-called blackout performances solely for an all black identifying audience set on a plantation in the old American South.
The award-winning play explores race, identity and sexuality. Well, I look forward to seeing the show on one of the nights when maybe I'm allowed to go.
How much mental gymnastics you have to do to reach the conclusion that segregating people based upon the colour of their skin is somehow the best way to tackle racism?
Mark Dolan blasts black-only West End show
GBN America
I would humbly suggest it's like trying to tackle a forest fire with gallons of unleaded petrol.
This segregation policy was first tried during the shows run in ultra woke New York City. Now there's a surprise.
Now clearly there are people of ethnic backgrounds who do not participate enough in live theatre, and this highly regarded show, which tackles the hellish crime and dark legacy of slavery, should be watched and enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible.
But the optics of an invitation to just one group of people based upon the pigmentation of their skin to anyone with half a brain is divisive, deranged and potentially dangerous.
How does racism fix racism? How does the return of apartheid, which is what this policy effectively amounts to, help people of colour?
After decades of progress in the West, much of this looks to be under threat, or could even be reversed, with the idea that people of colour are somehow tragic victims who need to be among their own in order to enjoy the benefits of a theatrical performance.
I don't see anyone of colour as a victim, only as my brothers and sisters, defenders of the policy, have talked about how unsafe theatres are these days for some groups. That's right, they say the theatre is unsafe. Do me a favour.
Theatres are only unsafe if you're sat next to someone endlessly coughing, getting up to go to the restrooms or spilling their Hagen Das salted caramel ice cream on your lap.
And these performances are apparently there to help patrons avoid the white gaze. This is progress is it? demonising groups based upon immutable characteristics?
It's like Martin Luther King never happened. Let's not forget this is a man who said that we should be judged on the content of our character, not the colour of our skin. Well, he'd probably be cancelled in 2024 for his common sense words and his desire to bring humanity together.
Black lives matter, which is why people of colour shouldn't be treated like children or victims and be pushed into cultural silos by deluded woke nut jobs. Here's an idea, why do we try to get everyone to go to the theatre? That's right, lower ticket prices, have better marketing of shows across all communities, including to ethnic groups, and have school trips.
Maybe all communities could go to the theatre together and learn together. This exclusionary stuff is divisive and wrong and probably illegal if enforced very literally. This policy to shut certain people out of performances is a pantomime, a farce and the theatre of the absurd. This five star show gets only one star for common sense.
