ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the British production history of Moon on a Rainbow Shawl to assess its continued interest to key black directors since the 1980s. The first production and each revival since relates to a unique moment in the trajectory of black theatre in Britain. A sense of the first production and John's and Angelou's revivals can be gained and mapped through remnants of reviews, programmes and notes from materials held in the Theatre Archive Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). A video of the Eclipse Theatre production is also held at the V&A archive and the National Theatre Archive holds promptbook, programme materials and recordings of Buffong's production. The original production of Moon on a Rainbow Shawl was staged at the Royal Court Theatre in December 1958, a year after John had won the Observer playwriting competition. The Royal Court production was hardly a roaring success, playing 'for thirty-five performances to thirty-seven per cent box office'.
