Yvonne Brewster

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2005

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the theatre director Yvonne Brewster. She has been a major force in black British theatre for the last 20 years. Born into a wealthy family in Jamaica, Yvonne rebelled against her parents' plans for her - marriage and children - to become a theatrical pioneer. She says she was the first black drama student in Britain - but when she enrolled, her drama school's principal told her that, as a black actress, she would never get work here. She went on to become the first black woman to direct at the National Theatre. Throughout her career Yvonne has been an outspoken proponent of black theatre. In 1986 she founded the theatre company Talawa, whose name in Jamaican dialect means tough or feisty. Talawa gained attention - and audiences - by putting on productions such as an all-black Importance of Being Earnest. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Many Rivers to Cross by Jimmy Cliff Book: Primer to learn Italian and tape Luxury: Olive oil

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm Cresti Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive for
0:05.4	rights reasons we've had to shorten the music.
0:08.6	The program was originally broadcast in 2005, and the presenter was Sue Lawley.
0:30.0	My cast away this week is a theatre director.
0:32.2	She was born into an affluent family in Jamaica.
0:34.9	Her grandfather, a pole, had set up a successful undertaker's business on the island.
0:39.6	He was a great influence, introducing her to Shakespeare, Dickens, and Ella Fitzgerald.
0:44.6	She came to England to drama school in the fifties, where she was told a black actress
0:48.9	would never find work.
0:50.3	So she took herself off to the Royal Academy of Music and passed with flying colours.
0:54.8	Back home, she founded a theatre company whose first production, the Electronic Nigger,
0:59.6	caused a storm of protest and attracted big audiences.
1:03.6	Back here in the 80s, she founded a black theatre group where she put on all black productions,
1:08.9	not just of works by black writers, but also of classics such as the importance of being
1:13.9	earnest and Antony and Cleopatra, arguing that black theatre is an essential part of
1:18.9	British cultural life.
1:20.9	She called it Tullower, which means gutsy, feisty in Jamaican dialect.
1:25.9	Fueled herself with endless enthusiasm and zest for life, she's also pretty Tullower herself.
1:31.8	She's Yvonne Brewster.
1:33.6	Yvonne, there are lots of firsts in your CV, you were the first black woman to direct a
1:38.8	play at the National, you were the first black officer at the Arts Council.
1:43.3	But most fascinating, perhaps, is you were the first black woman drama student in this
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.