Black Theatre in London 1979 to 1982

Bright Young Tings, an exhibition of photographs from the National Theatre Archive’s Michael Mayhew Collection is a rare snapshot of the work developed by black theatre practitioners between 1979 and 1982. Michael Mayhew was the NT’s Art Director (from 1976 to 2009) when he was first asked by Charlie Hanson to take publicity photographs of the newly established Black Theatre Co-operative. Shot in 35mm black-and-white film on a Nikon EL2 camera, Mayhew’s tightly framed images capture the emergence of the Black Theatre Co-operative and a spirit of hope in its cast and company members.

Mayhew went on to shoot more images of theatre productions and rehearsals with Foco Novo and Temba Theatre, leaving a legacy of over 1000 newly digitised photographs at the NT Archive.  Mayhew deposited his collection at the NT Archive in 2012. Researching this collection revealed that in addition to photographing productions at the National, his private collection also documented fascinating and rarely revisited period in black British theatre history.

To respond to this archive collection, the NT commissioned Cherelle Sappleton, a young British-Caribbean visual artist whose work focuses on photography, moving image and collage.

Bright Young Tings shows in the Lyttelton Lounge at the National Theatre, London from 23 February to 15 April 2017.