T-Bone Wilson

{{Infobox person

| name = T-Bone Wilson

| birth_place = Guyana

| nationality = British

| occupation = Actor, dramatist, poet

}}

T-Bone Wilson is a Guyanese-British actor, dramatist and poet.{{cite book|author-first=James|author-last=Procter|editor-link=Alison Donnell|editor=Alison Donnell|title=Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfdpdZ9DwH0C&pg=PA71|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-70025-7|pages=71–2|chapter=Wilson, T-Bone}}

Life

Wilson came to England from Guyana in 1962 as an engineering student. Deciding to take up drama, he trained at the Mountview Theatre School.{{cite web| url=https://bbashakespeare.warwick.ac.uk/people/t-bone-wilson | title=T-Bone Wilson | website=British Black and Asian Shakespeare Database | access-date=5 February 2021}} Wilson acted in Mustapha Matura's series of short plays, Black Pieces, staged by Roland Rees at the ICA in 1970.{{cite news |first=Michael|last=Billington| author-link=Michael Billington (critic) | title=Mustapha Matura obituary | newspaper=The Guardian | date=1 November 2019 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/nov/01/mustapha-matura-obituary | access-date=6 February 2021 }} Wilson was inspired to become a playwright himself,{{cite book|first=Chris |last=Megson|title=Modern British Playwriting: The 1970s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u_fpmDV0Yj4C&pg=PA57|year=2012|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4081-2939-5|page=57}} writing Jumbie Street March, Body and Soul (1974) and Come Jubilee (1977).{{cite web | title=Playwrights: Wilson, T Bone | publisher= National Theatre |website=Black Plays Archive | url=https://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/playwrights/wilson-t-bone | access-date=6 February 2021}} Jumbie Street March was produced by the Dark and Light Theatre Company.{{cite book|first=Geoffrey V. |last=Davis|title=Staging New Britain: Aspects of Black and South Asian British Theatre Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_hPqrjXUaUC&pg=PA50|year=2006|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-90-5201-042-7|page=50}}

As a theatre actor, Wilson performed in the National Theatre's 1981 production of Measure for Measure, the first main-stage Shakespeare by a national theatre company to employ a majority of ethnic minority actors.{{cite web| url=https://bbashakespeare.warwick.ac.uk/productions/measure-measure-1981-national-theatre-lyttelton-theatre | title=Measure for Measure (1981) | website=British Black and Asian Shakespeare Database | access-date=5 February 2021}} He played Banquo in a 1984 production of Macbeth at the Young Vic Theatre.{{cite web| url=https://bbashakespeare.warwick.ac.uk/productions/macbeth-1984-young-vic-theatre | title=Macbeth (1984) | website=British Black and Asian Shakespeare Database | access-date=5 February 2021}}

Wilson appeared in the 1979 television drama A Hole in Babylon, based on events leading up to the 1975 Spaghetti House siege.{{cite book|author-link=Stephen Bourne (writer)|first=Stephen|last=Bourne|title=Black in the British Frame: The Black Experience in British Film and Television|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YYaryaqLfd4C&pg=PA201|year=2005|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-8264-7898-6|page=201}} He also appeared in Franco Rosso's 1980 film Babylon, which portrayed sound system culture and racism in Brixton.{{cite book|first=Paul |last=Newland|editor=Paul Newland|title=Don't Look Now: British Cinema in the 1970s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kbmrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98|year=2010|publisher=Intellect Books|isbn=978-1-84150-389-9|page=98|chapter=We Know Where We're Going, We Know Where We're From: Babylon}}

Writing

=Poetry=

Counterblast. London: Karnak House, 1980.

=Plays=

Jumbie Street March. Keskidee Arts Centre.
Body and Soul. Keskidee Arts Centre, 1974.
Come Jubilee. Bush Theatre, 1977. Directed by Roland Rees.{{cite web| url=http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1162722/poster-zarate-oscar/ | title=Poster by Oscar Zarete | website=Victoria and Albert Museum | access-date=6 February 2021}}