At a time when people are constantly questioning the notions of cultural identity and diversity, comes performance festival Shipbuilding from Certain Blacks. Set across four performances, both autobiographical and observed, the festival explores these ideas through dance, poetry and spoken word. Designed to provoke thought and debate as well as entertain, Run Riot writer Kerenza Evans chatted to Clive Lyttle, Artistic Director of Certain Blacks to find out more about the inspiration behind the festival and the acts involved.

Kerenza Evans: What's the story behind Shipbuilding? 

Clive Lyttle: Shipbuilding is a programme of work that was developed over the past year to showcase new work during the current pandemic. The first show was a live broadcast of BrainTown by Svalbard, a circus live art company from Lighthouse 93. This was followed by Ensemble Festival in 2020 in Victoria Docks which we presented in partnership with Without Walls. The Shipbuilding Festival at Rich Mix is the final part of the season and the first chance we have had to present live work indoors since 2019. The festival includes artists which reflect the diversity and innovation of artists making new work and presenting new stories.  

Kerenza: What provoked the title? 

Clive: Certain Blacks is based in Costume House in the East Ends Royal Docks which is where I live. The idea was influenced by the anti-war song by Elvis Costello. This came to mind when I was developing the festival during the Covid 19 pandemic. The Royal Docks included the first Nightingale Hospital at The Excel Centre, which was an amazing, and slightly frightening, sight to see close up against the media backdrop of being “in this together”. It reminded me of the Falklands War which was the only time I’ve experienced this feeling of mass mobilisation and fear. The Royal Docks also reminded me of Newcastle, where I went to university. It’s a fantastic city and you notice the old shipbuilding yards with unused cranes which reflect the changes in industrial Britain, and this is like the docks in East London. Also, it’s a fantastic song and I loved Robert Wyatt’s version of it!

Kerenza: Can you give us an overview of the four shows involved?

Clive: Alleyne Dance, A Night's Game is a dance performance which questions the nature of freedom. How does it feel to have your freedom taken from you? Would you spend every waking hour longing to be free again? This company is made up of Identical twins Kristina and Sadé Alleyne and their work is influenced by dance styles of West African and Caribbean origin plus elements of Kathak and Hip-Hop dance. Richard Stamp’s DICK – One Man in 100,000 is a personal story about penile cancer. DICK tells of his whirlwind journey from diagnosis to partial penectomy which left him, in his own words, “A clown with a mission: to promote understanding of the disease and its effects, to both doctors and civilians”. 

Abstract Benna is launching his new EP - Out Of Darkness. Abstract Benna has performed with us before as part of Ensemble Festival and this show provides an opportunity for us to showcase his work. Born and raised in South London, Abstract Benna has been writing and performing since childhood. He is a social commentator and spoken word artist, Benna is also a storyteller and an instinctive musical collaborator. Intricate rhyme schemes and layered narratives meet sonic and visual landscapes while Hip-Hop beats and cinematic sounds form musical backdrops. The final show is Livia Kojo Alour’s - Black Sheep. Livia was formally known as MisSa Blue developed after moving from Germany to London ten years ago to live and work in a more diverse community, Livia learned that life-long feelings of self-hatred and otherness are part internalised racism and part survival techniques. With an ongoing and successful career in circus under her stage name MisSa, Livia has tired of playing someone else full time and has created her first full length show. The festival performances are on the 18th, 19th, 25th and 27th February. 

Kerenza: How did you curate the programme? Is there a link between the performances? 

Clive: The programme was curated through putting together work which I felt represented innovative performance. All the artists are diverse in the widest sense and are making work which challenges current norms and assumptions about work from diverse artists. It’s fantastic to be able to present new dance, theatre and spoken word from these artists and present work that represents the range of artists in Britain today and the link is the different voices these artists represent.

I have a personal connection to all the work presented, I first met Alleyne Dance in a park in Norwich when they had been part of Norfolk and Norwich Festival as part of Without Walls. I’ve known Richard Stamp for many years as a theatre maker and performer and Richard has used this experience to raise awareness around this subject. Abstract Benna has performed with us before as part of Ensemble Festival and this show provides an opportunity for us to showcase his work. I was introduced to Livia via her Instagram performances during lockdown.

Kerenza: What does 'being British' mean to you?

Clive: Britain is the place of birth, life, love, and education. I’m extremely proud of this along with my Black heritage. However, there has always been a sense of otherness if you come from a different background, and this has been highlighted over the last couple of years with the conversations around Black Lives Matters and approaches to minorities. I have talked about going to university in Newcastle and this was the first time I felt like an outsider. At the same time, the North East has a great history of being socially conscious. It is a region which you feel built Britain and much of its empire through its architecture, shipbuilding and working-class ethos and the people give you a great sense of belonging. This is the same as living in the East End of London. 

My mother, Doris Doxy Lyttle, was from the Windrush generation. She came to Britain to be a nurse in the NHS and worked as a midwife at the Lewisham Hospital, which is where I was born. She recently passed away in the same hospital. I think it’s ironic that she was involved with the NHS for much of her life and this really recalls the original post war idea of health support “from cradle to grave” and highlights what that generation did to build this. I think the NHS is the most fantastic thing about this country and being British. 

Kerenza: When people are so bombarded by Covid-19 and the threat of climate change in the daily news cycle, do you think there's a concern of 'audience fatigue' around these topics? 

Clive: I do think that is possible and I think this is why, although the festival is set against the backdrop of Covid, it is not about the pandemic or other current issues. Throughout Shipbuilding we have been trying to engage audiences in real experiences by live streaming from interesting venues. The Shipbuilding festival is Certain Blacks first time presenting shows to live, indoor, audiences since 2019 which is exciting. I hope that audiences are looking forward to seeing live shows again after most work has been live streamed over the past two years.

Kerenza: How do you think attitudes to theatre have changed throughout the pandemic? 

Clive: I don’t really think attitudes have changed that much during the pandemic, but I do think that movements such as Black Lives Matter have bought these issues to the fore. It’s great to see more diverse work being produced on the London Stage such as Conundrum at The Young Vic which is a piece of new writing from the diverse cast of A Number at the Old Vic. There are conversations around colour blind casting, but I do think there is a lot of work needed to support actors, writers, and producers to develop new work that moves beyond issue-based shows.

Kerenza: What's next on the horizon for Certain Blacks? 

Clive: The future looks exciting. We are currently planning our summer Ensemble Festival which is shaping up brilliantly. This year’s festival overall theme is "Heroes" and will feature some fantastic surprises in the Royal Docks, but I can’t name them yet as it’s not been officially announced.  We are also looking at our long-term future and how we can continue our work in East London and take work on tour nationally.

Shipbuilding Festival runs from Friday 18 - Saturday 27 Feb 2022. To buy tickets, please click here.