African Tales from the Hip is a collective, made up of African & Caribbean writers, actors, theatre practitioners, costume makers, make up designers and such the like, who are all inspired to reinstate the african traditional fingerprint in contemporary theatre.

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Born from work done with archive intervention organisations, the collective was formed when it became apparent to both the researchers and the practitioners involved in earlier career staging performances in Britain, that there is a dearth in Black actors being trained to perform from a cultural space that is systemically African.

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The case studies showed that the African persona & identity were being dismissed from academic training spaces and many times being encouraged /forced into stereotypical portrayals that do not lend itself to the upliftment of a culture that strongly approaches performance from a wholistic and healing positionality.

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The face and value of the work done within the African Tales from the Hip collective will facilitate workshops, training and performances that feed into a rediscovery of this African cosmological trajectory.