We go to the theatre together. Then we go home and talk.
Theatre has been BBJC's signature since the beginning. We book a block of seats at a Black-led show, go as a group, and carry the conversation back to someone's kitchen table afterwards. The auditorium opens it; the living room finishes it.
Why theatre
There's a particular charge to sitting in a dark room with your people, watching a story that was made with you in mind. Black-led theatre in London is some of the best work happening anywhere — and seeing it together, rather than alone, changes what it does to you. You laugh louder. You catch each other's eye at the line that lands. You leave with something to say.
The kitchen-table talkback
The play is only half of it. The other half happens after — back at someone's place, kettle on, shoes off, talking about what we just saw and what it stirred up. No chairperson, no microphone, no right answer. Just the conversation a good show always wants to start, given somewhere soft to land.
Where we've been
We follow the work to the houses doing it best — Talawa, Stratford East, the Bush, the Royal Court. We've sat together for For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, Choir Boy, and the plays of debbie tucker green, among others. The list grows every season.
How it works
We pick a show, book a group of seats, and go together — tickets subsidised where we can. Afterwards, whoever's hosting opens their home for the talkback. You don't need to know anyone to come; you just need to want to. And if there's a show you think we should see, tell us — most of our nights started as a member's suggestion.