This Thread of Gold: A Celebration of Black Womanhood

Returning to Chichester where she appeared on stage in The Watsons in 2019, award-winning author, actor and film-maker Catherine Joy White will this time be talking about her award-winning book This Thread of Gold: A Celebration of Black Womanhood.

Catherine will be in conversation with Jessica Huie on Saturday, October 3 – alongside which will launch a new exhibition celebrating black women who have shaped British theatre across the generations. This Thread of Gold: Black Women Who Wove British Theatre will remain on display throughout Black History Month. The exhibition is free to visit.

“The book actually started life as my thesis at Oxford,” Catherine says. “I have always been interested in cultural issues seen through a lens of history and in the thesis I was looking at how black women had used food as a means of resistance. It was in terms of how food had uplifted them and their family and also in terms of their social class. I got my first-class degree, and it was an amazing time diving into these women's worlds and lives. I had a lot of ideas about these women, and cut to a couple of years later, I had just done a year at the Oxford School of Drama and my first professional job was in Chichester in the Minerva in The Watsons. We were going to go into the West End but then Covid happened, but these women still stayed with me.

“I had just started work as an actor and all the work got shut down. I ended up founding my production company and making films. It was always with the theme of changing narratives, but these women just kept coming back to me. Lots of different women were still swirling around my head and I just started thinking that I could put them together as a book. I thought it would be an academic book at that point, and that was what I started putting together. When I sent it to agents, they thought it would be more interesting as something with more trade appeal. I went back and thought about it and I found the right agent. It was quite transformative.

“And I decided to dedicate it to joy, this joy of all these different women who had worked across the spectrum and who had come together in this tapestry. It was a celebration. In fact, that's the thread that runs through most of my work. I believe you can tackle even the most difficult questions by focusing on the joy and on the hope. Even in the struggle there is hope and there is joy. I think that's the really interesting thing.

“Joy is my natural disposition, my natural outlook. I think the desired outcome can be joy but you can't force that outcome but you can set out with joy and view the endeavour through a lens of joy. Joy is an element that runs right through it, and so is hope.

“For me also legacy is important, about how you make your mark, what you leave behind for those that come afterwards. You can always have laughter in the most difficult moments. It's about being able to get things wrong. There is great joy in that. It's also about changing the narrative. You don't have to be right and perfect and flawless. You can be much messier and courageous and keep trying.”

The exhibition picks up on the book, celebrating the history of black women who challenged stereotypes through film, politics, activism, and beyond – the exhibition traces a golden thread through the history of black women in British theatre.

From pioneering figures who created opportunities where none existed, to contemporary artists continuing to reshape the stage, among those featured are Una Marson, Hattie McDaniel, Yvonne Brewster, Winsome Pinnock, Martina Laird and Michaela Coel, whose work spans playwriting, acting, directing, producing, broadcasting, community and institution-building.

Rather than presenting a conventional timeline, the exhibition explores the connections between generations: the women who created a voice, built a stage, crossed borders, wrote themselves into history and opened doors for those who followed.

The exhibition will feature six original portraits commissioned from British artist Whitney Ellis, created specifically for the exhibition. The use of original illustration forms part of the exhibition's wider exploration of craft, creativity and the act of making.