Drama Online - Writers of Colour
Loading
Loading

Writers of Colour and the ‘Lit in Colour’ campaign

Discover nearly 100 plays by writers of colour and traditionally underrepresented voices

Barber Shop Chronicles by Inua Ellams
Chewing Gum Dreams by Michaela Coel
The Empress by Tanika Gupta
The Father and the Assassin by Anupama Chandrasekhar
The Great Wave by Francis Turnly
Rockets and Blue Lights by Winsome Pinnock

At Bloomsbury, home of Methuen Drama, the Arden Shakespeare and Drama Online, we work hard to diversify the voices and stories we publish. Now we’re bringing our unique focus on drama texts to the Lit in Colour campaign in collaboration with Penguin Books UK and the Runnymede Trust, supporting schools to make the teaching and learning of English Literature and Drama more inclusive.

Below you’ll find information about nearly 50 plays by writers of colour, as well as 50 more by the same authors, so you can dig deeper into a playwright’s portfolio. In light of the Lit in Colour research report, this list includes Black, Asian, Jewish and other Minority Ethnic writers. The plays are taken from on The (Incomplete) Lit in Colour Play List 2023, whose title acknowledges that this list will inevitably be incomplete with further lists to be released annually.

All of the plays listed below are available here on Drama Online and your access will depend on the Drama Online collections to which your institution has subscribed. Details of the collection in which each play sits can be found here. Any plays with an asterisk (*) next to them are also available in a video or audio collection.

Love, Family and Relationships

Immigration and Belonging

Politics and Activism

Youth and Growing Up

Identity and Culture

History

Class and Society

Adaptations


More plays by authors on the Lit in Colour Play List: