The View From Above: Exploring Anti-Racism on Screen

A new digital play written by Dr Campbell Edinborough and made on the University of Leeds campus, premiered at stage@leeds in November 2023.  The View From Above was created as part of a Developing Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England. The wider project explores the use of streaming technology in creating and sharing performance alongside developing anti-racist and decolonial strategies in creative writing.

Dr Edinborough worked in collaboration with film director Charlie Cattrall and an international cast including: Gráinne O’Mahony (SCRUM), Sanee Raval (I May Destroy You), Ruth Everett (RSC), Jerry Killick (Forced Entertainment) and Kulvinder Ghir (Goodness Gracious Me; Blinded by the Light; Bend It Like Beckham). The new digital play interrogates the racist and sexist tropes seen in post-9/11 TV and film and gave professionals working in the film and acting industry an opportunity to engage with practice research that critically explored how screen narratives racialise audiences, as well as how performance making can contribute to processes of decolonisation.

A character from The View From Above

To coincide with the premiere of The View from Above, PCI hosted 'Wrestling With Whiteness: Creative Strategies for Decolonising Drama and Screenwriting', an online seminar where speakers shared ideas for how they engage critically with whiteness and colonial legacies in their creative writing practice. The speakers included Hannah Khali, Samran Rathore and Campbell Edinborough, and the discussion was chaired by Leeds University Professor of Poetry, Kimberly Campanello.

The 2023 version of The View From Above was recommended by The Guardian. It has now been developed into a feature film, which is expected to be presented at venues in Europe and the UK during 2025.