Racism against minority ethnic groups exists in Ireland as elsewhere. In particular it has been endured by the Traveller Community. The production of Charlie O'Neill's play, 'Rosie and Starwars', by Calypso is one very positive action by artists, in dialogue with Travellers and Traveller organisations, to confront and educate people on the issues of racism and prejudice. The choice of subject matter and the manner in which it was researched typifies the issue-based theatre work Calypso has undertaken over the past five years. This, in turn, is located within a long standing tradition of arts practice, where the arts are seen - and theatre in particular - as a force for progressive change.

This web site [www.calypso.ie] and the information packs produced for the various shows concentrates not so much on art and anti-racism specifically, as on theatre as a progressive, humanising agent in society. Once it is accepted that theatre has a role to play in bettering and changing society, then the debate about its appropriateness or application to processes aimed at combating racial prejudice becomes simply a matter of how and when.

Ever since actors first took to the boards, theatre has been used to highlight the need for social change. But increasingly since the mid-nineteenth century, advocates of progressive reform and indeed revolution have availed of theatre. From opposition to the evils of colonialism through to the modern movements against racism, homophobia, social exclusion etc., drama has proven a brilliant ally to radical, progressive movements. Ibsen's play 'An Enemy of the People' and Hauptmann's 'The Weavers' were towering works of European Naturalist Theatre, which highlighted the corruption and injustice at the end of the nineteenth century. The 1920's and '30's in Europe and North America were times of unprecedented social upheaval and were marked by the emergence of dramatists such as Bertolt Brecht and Clifford Odets who espoused left wing ideology and were opposed to the capitalist systems of their day. In the '60's Peter Weiss with his Vietnam Discourse and Peter Brook with U.S. combined stylistic innovation with a powerful political message. In the '70's, the feminist movement developed a theatre voice with, among others, Caryl Churchill's early plays.