The Protest and the Play

In this two-part series, The Protest and the Play, we look back at two very different plays that were cancelled before they hit the stage – Behzti in 2004 and Exhibit B in 2014 – and use their 10 and 20-year anniversaries as a jumping-off point to ask: where do the limits of artistic freedom lie? Who has the right to tell certain stories? And would these plays be commissioned today?

Behzti, a play by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, was cancelled by the Birmingham Reparatory Theatre after protests by members of the Sikh community, who were angered by the playwright’s depiction of a rape in a Gurdwara. The protests caused thousands of pounds in damage and forced the playwright into hiding.

Exhibit B, a performance by the South African artist Brett Bailey, which featured Black actors chained and in cages, was described by its creator as a critique of "human zoos." It received five-star reviews when it opened at the Playfair Library in Edinburgh, but its run at the Barbican Vaults was cut short after a national protest campaign.

The Protest and the Play is presented by Museum of Colour Director Samenua Sesher and actor, playwright, and director Kwame Kwei-Armah.
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