DT-MEDIA
How the Bristol Bus Boycott is being turned into a musical for the very first time

It’s one of the most important moments in Bristol’s history and is increasingly becoming recognised as Britain’s own Civil Rights Movement.
And now the story of the Bristol Bus Boycott is being made into a musical for the first time - by a group of children who have never even been to Bristol before.
The youngsters all attend a drama project based in one of London’s toughest estates, the Draper Estate at the Elephant & Castle, and are currently writing and rehearsing what is thought to be the first musical ever produced about the seminal episode in modern British history.
The musical is entitled ‘People Like You’, and will be performed at the Draper Centre in the heart of inner city south east London in a few weeks, as part of Black History Month.
Click here and listen to Miranda Rae meets Draper Film Academy - Bristol Bus Boycott the musical and Roy Hackett from The Mirandarae's Podcast on Apple Podcasts.
The interview was cancelled when the bosses at the depot found out he was black, proving the unofficial colour bar was real.
Black people in Bristol began boycotting the buses, and were joined in support by students and other white people in Bristol, pitting themselves against the bus company and the TGWU union, which maintained the ban should remain.
It became a national issue with the intervention of politicians like Tony Benn, and four months after the campaign began, the boycott was successful and the bus company relented.
The campaign was the beginning of a movement which would bring about the Race Relations Act, which in turn would make discriminating against someone on the basis of the colour of their skin a criminal offence.


The story of the bus boycott came to the children of south east London through the Draper Film and Music Academy’s music director Katanya Jones.
“Earlier this summer, Katanya and I were brain-storming about celebrating this year's
Black History Month at Draper Hall, Katanya had the idea of developing a project on the Bristol Bus Boycott, and together we started thinking of making a musical and involving our students of the DFMA,” explained the academy’s director Luisa Pretolani.
“Katanya dedicated the first two classes to explaining and presenting the boycott, the reasons behind it, the people who were involved and the important outcome.
“The young students and all of us ‘grown ups’ became immediately very interested and wished to know more about those important days. Soon after, the students started developing the story of the events to be structured into the musical and write the lines for the various characters.
“Katanya then wrote the lyrics and the melodies for the music which has been composed by musician Luca Uggias, a long time collaborator of the DFMA.
“The title of the musical is ‘People Like You’ and refers to the way People of Colour were addressed and in this case, not allowed to be hired for the job,” she added.
The group are recording the musical as a CD, and Luisa said the children are fully aware of the significance of the boycott.
“We really want them to feel the weight of the history they are representing, the meaning of this,” she said.
“There is not that much material out there to research about this - it seems the boycott isn’t that well known generally in Britain.


“We want to give the children the complexity of the issue, and you want them to understand what it was like back then, let them get angry about it but turn that into something positive and creative,” she added.
The musical is getting its premiere at the Draper Hall on October 26. The team staging the musical are very keen to link up with the community in Bristol, with the possibility of coming to Bristol to perform it in the city where the story is based.
If any schools or arts organisations in Bristol want to link up with the Draper Hall team, contact Luisa on director@drapertogether.org

How the Bristol Bus Boycott is being turned into a musical for the very first time

Historian David Olusoga to show BBC 2 Windrush documentary in Elephant and Castle
A BBC presenter and historian is to hold a community screening of his Windrush documentary.
David Olusoga, a professor of public history of Manchester University, will be leading a screening and talk around his BBC Two documentary, The Unwanted, which explores the roots of the Windrush scandal.
The event, at Draper Hall in Newington Butts on Tuesday, October 22, is being held to commemorate Black History Month. It is being organised by the Draper Together charity.
The film features Sarah O’Connor, Anthony Bryan and Judy Griffith who lost jobs, savings and their health facing deportation back to countries they could barely remember because of the scandal.
“I’m delighted to be joining members of Draper Together for this unique screening in a community that has dedicated itself to offering a place of inclusion” said Mr Olusoga.
