In the 2014 BAFTA Television Lecture, Sir Lenny Henry (now Chancellor of Birmingham City University) was outspoken about the continuing lack of ethnic diversity in British film and TV, calling on the BBC to ring-fence money for BAME productions. BAME actors cite being offered less important roles, typecasting and the lack of ethnic diversity on casting panels as causes of the difference in their career trajectories compared to their white counterparts.

Vik Sivalingam, the play’s director, says, “The terms ‘BAME’, ‘non-traditional’ and ‘colour blind’ (terms regularly bandied about when there is talk of increasing diversity in the arts) are not only wholly unsatisfactory but also reductive to large swathes of peoples.I personally prefer the term ‘colour aware’ casting and I look forward to the day when the industry status quo is one in which creatives are required to defend any production that is cast ‘traditionally’. The fact that Closer has never been cast in this way is an indictment on our industry.”

“The term ‘colour blind’ casting (casting without regard for an actor’s race or colour) has never sat comfortably with me,” continues Danièle Sanderson, “as if an actor’s colour is something the audience is required to be blind to. We really need to continually challenge received traditional casting.

“At the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, we’re at the education end of the theatre industry, training emerging practitioners. Our aim is to foster an environment where student actors can experiment, play and look in a new mirror to challenge perceptions. And not just society’s, but also their own.”

Vik Sivalingam concludes: “Lack of representation is a challenge that permeates the industry. To see someone who looks like you, doing what you aspire to do, is an important part of sustaining a dream and young people of colour simply don’t have the same multiplicity of role models.”