BiBi Crew

BiBi Crew was the first British comedy troupe to consist entirely of Black actresses.[1][2] Their work focuses on the Black British experience.

History

Joanne Campbell, Judith Jacob, Janet Kay, Suzette Llewellyn, Josephine Melville, Beverley Michaels and Suzanne Packer founded BiBi Crew in London 1991.[1] According to Jacob and Michaels, the group was founded in response to The Posse, a comedy group made up of Black actors.[3][4] Michaels saw the troupe perform and thought ‘there should be a group of women doing this' and contacted the other women involved.[3] Campbell has stated that the group formed after a memorial benefit at the Theatre Royal Stratford East to celebrate the life of actor Calvin Simpson, in which a few of the troupe members participated.[5]

The troupe's name combines the word for lady in Swahili and Urdu, with the use of the word crew, which was popular with American music groups,[3] and which the group thought gave them some 'street cred'.[5] They were all of 'Caribbean descent',[6] and 'devised and produced work with an African Caribbean perspective' that drew on their personal experiences.[1]:74 They wrote, directed, produced and acted in their productions, which combined music, dance, drama and sketch comedy[1]:44 They were regular performers at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and contributed to the theatre's mission to reflect the diversity of Newham where it was located.[2]:305 They also toured throughout the United Kingdom and United States.[7]:20

Reunion

BiBi Crew reunited in 2005 without Campbell, who died in 2002, and Kay, who was pursuing a career in music.[8]

Legacy

They contributed to the emergence of a black comedy circuit in Britain in the 1990s.[9][10] Along with groups like The Posse, they 'introduced a new energized performance style into diasporic theatre in the early 1990s that was breaking away from old categories and attracting a black audience with sketch-like material, often highly political, rooted in common experience'[11]:195 Additionally, their performances at Theatre Royal Stratford East helped to inspire the subsequent Asian revue series.[7]:20

Productions
  • On A Level (1992) Theatre Royal Stratford East[12][13]
  • But Stop! We Got Work To Do (1995) Bloomsbury Theatre[14]
  • Shut Down (2017) Hackney Picture House
  • Get Raunchy (2018) Bernie Grants Centre

See also

References
  1. Abram, Nicola (2020), Abram, Nicola (ed.), "Theatre of Black Women", Black British Women's Theatre: Intersectionality, Archives, Aesthetics, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 23–84, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-51459-4_2, ISBN 978-3-030-51459-4, retrieved 2020-10-28
  2. Donnell, Alison (2002-09-11). Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-70025-7.
  3. Porter, Toby (2018-07-20). "Writer and producer Beverley Michaels, talks about her upcoming show at The Albany Deptford". South London News. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  4. Judith Jacob. Judith Jacob (The Raunchy Interview). Interview by Ebony Online, 2017. https://ebonyonline.net/judith-jacobs-the-raunchy-interview/.
  5. The BiBi Crew. The Late Show. BBC2, 1992. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lPbGSpflHI.
  6. Suzanne Packer. Suzanne Packer talks about her time in comedy group The Bibi Crew. Interview by Sian Williams. BBC One, 2014. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01xtjmz.
  7. Ikoli, Tunde (1998-08-26). Scrape off the Black. Oberon Books. ISBN 978-1-84943-892-6.
  8. "About BiBi Crew. Story of BiBi Crew making people think and laugh". mysite. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  9. Starck, Kathleen (2006). "'Black and female is some of who I am and I want to explore it': black women's plays of the 1980s and 1990s". Studies in Theatre and Performance. 26 (1): 49–67. doi:10.1386/stap.26.1.49/1. ISSN 1468-2761. S2CID 194089831.
  10. Aston, Elaine; Janelle, Reinett; Reinelt, Janelle (2000). The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Women Playwrights. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-59533-9.
  11. Chambers, Colin (2020-12-18). Black and Asian Theatre In Britain: A History. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-21689-5.
  12. Gardner, Lyn (27 May 1993). "Arts: Giggers with attitude". The Guardian.
  13. "On A Level | BPA". www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  14. "But Stop! We Got Work To Do | BPA". www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
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