If there weren’t any black you’d have to invent them is a 1968 film by Johnny Speight. Almost exactly 50 years after this film was released, 5 actors play themselves to pieces in a re-enactment by taking on no less than 16 roles! 

Aurelie Di Marino, Farbod Fathinejad, Benjamin Op de Beeck, Kaat Arnaert, Nona Buhrs and Ahilan Ratnamohan turn the script inside out as a historical document. Is the desire for segregation an inherent human characteristic? Have we fully incorporated the desire for freedom? What is left of the compartmentalised society Speight made fun of? What roles do we all take on today? How many different roles can 21st century man take on at the same time? What has changed and what has stayed the same? What has become more complex? 

Through their acting, they attempt to translate Speight’s view on racism and identity from the mythical 60s into current terms: an anachronistic mirror that reveals a frightening amount about the present.