Narc. Magazine Online
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A creative production of film, movement and soundscapes illustrate the lives of the women who married men of the Windrush generation
White working-class women who married Black men of the Windrush generation were the quiet rebels, the silent heroes of the time. These courageous women crossed the colour line to marry men arriving in the UK on boats from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands between 1948 and 1971 to help fill post-war UK labour shortages. Defying race and class prejudice and social stigma directed against them and their families, this quietly rebellious generation of women are a key part of the foundations of today’s multi-cultural communities, shaping a new generation of ‘dual heritage’ children. And their stories have rarely been told.
In Quiet Rebels, Julie McNamara, Hassan Mahamdallie and their creative team explore these forgotten stories against the unexpected backdrop of a dystopian England. This powerful dramatisation blends film, movement and soundscapes with integrated creative access to bring this dystopian future to life.
In this imagined world, Aileen Burnett – a white woman who married a Black man – has been murdered, and it’s up to Detective Shade to investigate the crime. Burnett is a convicted race-traitor with four children, having served time for ‘miscegenation’.
To solve this murder, Shade must travel the Multi-resistance’s Underground network to the Northern Free Zone. There she is confronted with her past, and everything she thought she knew about herself and her world is challenged.
Quiet Rebels brings a challenge. The performance contains references to experiences and impacts of racism, as the fictional setting frames the harsh truths of these quiet rebels’ daily lives. Let us not forget.
Quiet Rebels is performed at Northern Stage, Newcastle from Wednesday 12th-Thursday 13th October.
