Rise up @ the Belgrade Theatre (Coventry)
The show got me during its final moments when the young people on the stage said to the audience 'you have a choice.' I was enjoying four young people's portrayal freedom riders in the US; riding the buses to protest against segregation. Part of me, however, wanted to hear another story: that of British segregation. It wasn't taught to me at school and still appears not to be. I only know it exists because of narrated life stories. It's a bit like the feeling I get when Black History Month comes around... my first question is always why? Not in the sense that it is a bad idea, but growing up in a multi-cultural society and having friends from a diverse range of countries and backgrounds, out with and inside the UK, I want to know why our History curriculum is not reflective of our society. The play reminded me of Mr Maxwell, the teacher with the cheeky opinions who pushed the boundaries of history. He asked the big questions. We got inside the poems of Maya Ange...