ABSTRACT
Diasporic artists of colour who came to Britain after the arrival of Ira Aldridge do not form a coherent group, and they range across genre and performance style. Hill says Morgan Smith was not of Aldridge's rank, having less range, power, and originality, yet he was a 'superior performer', talented and painstaking, and a worthy successor to Aldridge. From 1912 to 1921, he also appeared in several films and has been described by Stephen Bourne as Britain's 'first black film actor until others of African descent are identified'. The play, which the Indian Players published, deals with the life of a Brahmin priest who propounds rationalism to challenge deceit and pronounces a beggar woman with whom he is in love to be the incarnation of the goddess Kali. Importantly, the production had an all-Indian cast and Indian stage management and used Indian music.
