Pocomania – An Archival play

“It’s Pocomania….the word means I think, a little madness”

Did you know that

Mistreatment and lack of preventative measures are contributing to the epidemic of ill-mental health in Black communities. We are launching a new collaborative program with Black Thrive Lambeth, the Black Cultural Archives & Theatre Peckham to speak about examining and addressing well-being using theatre.

We are facilitating two community-led workshops that speak to the issues that surfaced in Una Marson’s play Pocomania.

An Overview:

Una Maud Marson (1905-1965) was a pioneer of her time who contributed much to shaping her country’s cultural identity and the visibility of African Caribbean people in Britain.

Born in St Elizabeth Jamacia, Marson was a skilled writer, activist, and the first Black female producer at the BBC. Her focus on Black women as protagonists characterised her work addressing culture, class, and gender in Britain and colonial Jamacia.

Pocomania is a testament to the sweeping process of social change taking place across the Caribbean in a post-emancipation context. A newly emerging Jamaican middle class comprehends its national identity against colonial class structures. Religious traditions rooted in Africa are represented by the colonial system as barriers to a civilised society.

We are calling on as many people as possible to help bring this incredible literary archive to the Black British Theatre scene.

Pocomania is being staged in February 2023 at Theatre Peckham!

The aim is to raise £10,000 to produce the play to completion and to transform it into a digital format for television so that it may be archived and accessed for generations to come.

Pocomania's Plot:

Set in the aftermath of the first World War Stella Manners, a young middle-class woman loses the love of her life to the war effort. Faced with depression, Stella is fascinated by the sound of the drum coming from her neighbour’s yard. As she navigates the shifting landscapes of imperial Jamacia, Stella confronts themes of love, loss, displacement, manipulation, spirituality, and awakening.

Our Mission:

Pocomania is a hidden legacy.

Written in the 1930s, the play was lost to the world until it was rediscovered and published in 2016. This production is a continuation of Una Marson’s legacy and the first time it has ever been staged on British shores.

This is a collaborative project with the Black Cultural Archives, Theatre Peckham and Black Thrive. We are organizing two community workshops set for January 2023. The program will provide new ways for Black audiences to access and engage with conversations around mental health, including engagement with the Melba Wilson archive - a collection centered around mental health provision within Black communities in the UK.

The Collaborators:

Decolonising the Archive (DTA)

DTA is a Pan-Africanist archive, co-creating spaces that shape the future of people of African Caribbean descent. As memory workers, we reclaim Black narratives lost to history and truly decolonize knowledge of the past for community healing and empowerment.

The Black Cultural Archives (BCA)

BCA is an archive and heritage center in Brixton, London, devoted to the histories of people of African and Caribbean descent in Britain. Founded in 1981 following the New Cross massacre resulting in the deaths of fourteen Black teenagers in south-east London. BCA is an independent national registered charity.

Theatre Peckham

Theatre Peckham is a community-facing theatre venue and project. They enable more children young people and adults to learn and grow through participation in the arts. Theatre Peckham provides a safe and creative space where relevant, resonant, and impactful work can be created.

Black Thrive

The Black Thrive Partnership brings together individuals, local communities, statutory agencies, and voluntary organizations to address structural barriers that prevent Black people from thriving. Black Thrive addresses the inequalities that negatively impact the mental health and well-being of Black people in Lambeth.

*Black Thrive will provide mental health support and recent statistics throughout this project*

Melba Wilson

The Melba Wilson collection at BCA spans over 40 years of Melba Wilson’s work in national and regional mental health programs, policy units, and services, including grassroots and community activism alongside formal policy work and leadership. Uncovering stories and legacies of Black mental health initiatives in the UK.

Jacqui Dyer

Jacqui Dyer is an independent health and social care consultant with a background in adult mental health commissioning, as well as community and family social worker. She is passionate about prevention and understanding the factors that lead to bad mental health. Jacqui Dyer also founded Black Thrive.

Ano Okera

Ano Okera is a Jamaican director from New York, known for producing ‘An American Street Mural in Harlem (2022)', 'The Maroons' and 'The Breeding (2018)'. His stories, films, and mix-media are Afro-centric modernisms that confront past and present states of Black culture. Okera is the director and transcriber for Pocomania.

A Final Word:

"When addressing issues of Black mental health and wellbeing, we must ask ourselves initially what has been lost, hidden or stolen and in that assessment, you may find personal solutions."- Bell 2020.

This project has a very important mission.

This conversation is not only about shifting the feeling of marginalisation by Black communities in art and archival spaces. This is also about arming our community with the resources to respond to this mental health epidemic!

Please donate today!