WE ARE THE UPSETTERS
Lee “Scratch” Perry
Photo Credit: Summerhall
THE UPSETTERS is named after the house band of legendary dub and reggae producer and singer Lee “Scratch” Perry.
The Origins
Originally conceived as a new writing, or scratch, night where the work was written, directed and performed by artists of colour. We sold out a double performance at the Bunker Theatre on our debut scratch night.
Since then, our work has evolved to include full length productions, workshops, festivals, political education videos, artist commissions and even a climate action mobile app.
Our work sits at the intersection between creative resistance and social justice. We aim to put people of colour at the centre of our work and create art that challenges the systems of oppression in society today and the narratives that go with them.
Does Representation Matter?
Our policy of working only with Black, South Asian, East Asian, Latinx, Middle Eastern and other theatre professionals underrepresented cultural backgrounds is crucial, not only to the identity of the company, but to the progress of the arts and culture industry as we see it.
We also recognise that the terms people of colour, BAME or Global Majority are not perfect.
We are not looking to homogenise people of colour from all different backgrounds and races into a single group. We’re about finding new, fresh and exciting ways to champion who you are. Whether you’re a Black playwright or a South Asian actor, we want you to celebrate everything that makes you great.
We believe that THE UPSETTERS is about addressing misrepresentation as much as under-representation. We want to share real human stories where the race of those involved doesn’t define the work.
However, we do not think the work stops there. We represent all racialised people because we believe in building lines of solidarity and working against the oppressive forces of racial capitalism and white supremacy. For us, it doesn’t matter if we use POC or BAME or another term, as long as we are united in our struggle and in our common goal.
We are not here to compete for scraps. That’s why an intersectional understanding that unites people with clear race and class analysis is how we approach our work. The politics that undermines our work is vitally important. This can be from the overt to the understated but we believe every project centres the voices and experiences of people of colour while challenging the systems and narratives that we all live with.
We believe in united workers, a united fight against capitalism, and united people from all racialised heritages, cultures and backgrounds. But, most of all, we believe in upsetting and tearing down the system which seeks to profit from our oppression. Join us!