Black Slap

It's 1964. Alec Douglas-Home has just been deposed as prime minister by Harold Wilson and the country is inching reluctantly into the modern age. Yet we find ourselves among the last bastions of Old Britain, bad taste and cultural insensitivity: we're backstage at the Victoria Palace, London, among the cast of The Black and White Minstrel Show.

Black Slap is essentially a workplace drama, examing the backstage lives of the minstrels as they black-up for show time. Written by Paul Haley—who performed over 2000 times as a minstrel—and featuring a seven-strong cast who hold up admirably, this is certainly an enjoyable and entertaining comedy.

But it's a curious piece. While the audience might reasonably expect a full and frank treatment of the great big racist elephant in the room, the issue hardly comes up at all. Lip service is paid to the increasing unacceptability of the act and occasional grumblings about "university types and opinion formers" no longer favouring the format. But on the whole, this is a relatively straight drama about workplace politics and relationships. Only in blackface. 

All this begs the question as to whether the The Black and White Minstrel Show is an appropriate setting for such a shallow, lighthearted drama. That's not to say that it isn't interesting or thoughtful in places. However, to approach a facet of pop cultural history that is a genuine source of shame for many contemporary Britons and to steadfastly refuse to engage with the central issue involved feels like a bit of a cop out.