Eclipse - the black-led touring theatre company making a name for itself

Dawn Walton is a big figure. The uncompromising theatre director stepped down from her role as artistic director of Eclipse theatre company last year and, truth be told, it seemed difficult to imagine who might replace her.
Shannon Hayes and Donna Berlin in The Gift, at the Carriageworks, which comes to Leeds next week. Picture: Ellie Kurttz.Shannon Hayes and Donna Berlin in The Gift, at the Carriageworks, which comes to Leeds next week. Picture: Ellie Kurttz.
Shannon Hayes and Donna Berlin in The Gift, at the Carriageworks, which comes to Leeds next week. Picture: Ellie Kurttz.
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Eclipse is a black-led touring theatre company and the fact that a replacement for Walton seemed lacking is one of the reasons the existence of Eclipse is so necessary.

The truth is that there are lots of black artists making work in theatre and the fact that a long list of candidates who could step into her shoes doesn’t immediately spring to mind says something about the state of the industry and the place it tells black artists they occupy within it.

Amanda Huxtables 2018 production of Abigails Party.  Picture: Ellie KurttzAmanda Huxtables 2018 production of Abigails Party.  Picture: Ellie Kurttz
Amanda Huxtables 2018 production of Abigails Party. Picture: Ellie Kurttz
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“The first thing to say is that it is impossible to replace Dawn Walton,” says Amanda Huxtable, the woman who has stepped into the role of artistic director and CEO of Eclipse.

Once Huxtable was announced, it made perfect sense that she should be the person to fill the role.

A Yorkshire-based theatre maker whose own company Hidden Gems, which she ran alongside writer Marcia Layne, told Black British Stories, she was also recently artistic associate at Hull Truck Theatre where she directed an acclaimed production of Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party in 2018. When she was announced as the woman who would lead Eclipse when Walton left, it was a well-received move. She makes perfect sense.

The company is currently on tour with The Gift, a co-production with the Belgrade Theatre Coventry, which next week comes to the Carriageworks in Leeds, the new home city of Eclipse Theatre. Directed by Dawn Walton, it takes place in two different time frames – in the 19th century and the modern day and is partly inspired by a remarkable true story involving the British Royal family and a young African girl – and explores themes of cross-racial adoption and cultural appropriation.

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As a black British woman, Huxtable she is a rarity in British theatre, especially now she is

in the powerful and influential position of being an artistic director and CEO.

“I’m really proud of where I got to as an independent artist, being invited to speak in certain places and being invited to certain tables,” she says.

“When I saw the big ship, Eclipse, was sailing I was so proud. Then when I saw that Dawn was disembarking I thought ‘I have to get on board, because otherwise what was all of this for?’. I spoke to my peers and they said the same thing.”

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It’s important to recognise the way Huxtable talks about Eclipse. It has been an important emblem for Black British theatre makers for over a decade now –the company means something.

It’s why there was a moment of hesitation for Huxtable, but after a second thought, she realised she had to put her name in the hat.

“At the first interview I was talking about the position as something that mattered and what the important things to do would be for whoever got the job.

“By the second interview I was thinking that that person could be me. I also decided to be real and talk about race and the pace of change and the lack of the pace of change.

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“It shouldn’t be taking so long, we have literally lost generations of artists, but we are getting somewhere,” she says.

One of the first jobs was to head up the move from Sheffield, where the company has been based over the past decade, to Leeds.With executive producer Shawab Iqbal, she is already setting about making the company in her own image.

Having worked in the North (she’s originally from London) as an artist for 28 years,

Huxtable has a vital insight into how hard it can be in the industry, particularly for those from a minority and non-privileged background.

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She talks a lot about care and wants Eclipse to provide for artists in all kinds of ways.

“We’re looking at how we build our office here at Mabgate Mills and what we want it to be and what that says about us and to the artists who will come here. Myself and Shawab think it is important that we build a library here because I think that is such a vital thing for all of us, to read about and know and understand our history.”

Huxtable makes the point that, because of the woeful under-representation minority artists have had in theatre in the past century, there is a wealth of untold stories.

“We’ve seen stories being told for, what, the past couple of decades? We’ve got hundreds of years of stories here to tell,” she says.

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One of the big success stories of Walton’s tenure was Revolution Mix, the largest ever body of new Black British work in theatre, film and radio.

Huxtable will continue the work that was begun with Revolution Mix.

“We also want this to be a place where our fellow artists who are marginalised because of their race, can come and explore and develop and have a place to discover more about their own work and practice.”

On a practical level Huxtable hopes to announce what will be her own first productions in the coming months, which we can expect to see next year sometime.

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The national tour of Eclipse Theatre’s production of The Gift comes to an end at Leeds Carriageworks, March 10 and 11.

For more details and to book tickets visit eclipsetheatre.org.uk or call the box office on 0113 3760318.

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