British theatre needs to be “completely rebuilt” in the wake of Covid-19 to make it more accessible to people from diverse backgrounds, according to the director of a web series about the challenges facing people of colour in the industry.

The actor Gabrielle Brooks started Blackstage UK in response to the various pledges to address structural racism in the arts, and says she believes the pandemic has presented institutions with the perfect opportunity to restructure.

“Yes, we have the devastating effects that the pandemic has had on the arts financially, but we will survive [and] what we have been given here is a gift to completely rebuild,” she said. “I mean completely start anew from scratch.”

Brooks, who stars in Netflix’s upcoming series Shadow and Bone and starred in the Young Vic’s Twelfth Night, said one change that needed to be made was making arts audiences more diverse.

“I’ve stood on the stage and I thought to myself: ‘Wow, there is no one looking back at me that reflects me.’ Not only does it make me feel lonely, but it also makes me makes me feel like there’s no progression.”

Research released by Arts Council England (ACE) in 2015 found that people of colour accounted for only 5% of the employees in some London theatres, in a city where more than 40% of people are from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Another piece of research commissioned by ACE found that the biggest hurdles to black and minority ethnic arts participants were lack of time, the cost of attending or participating, and “concerns about feeling uncomfortable or out of place”.

Brooks said that some theatre makers believed having diverse casting meant they had addressed the issue even if the work reinforced stereotypes.

“Dark-skinned black women are still playing parts where they are the aggressor or oversexualized,” she said. “Yes, you’ve put that black woman on stage, but what you’re really doing is presenting the world’s unconscious bias about that dark-skinned black woman.”

Blackstage UK features interviews with actors, stage managers and various figures from across the industry including Gbemisola Ikumelo and the It’s a Sin star Omari Douglas, who discuss challenges in the industry.

Participants in the series recall racism and prejudice they have faced in the industry, from assumptions made by casting directors to hostile responses when artists have pushed to have their voices heard.

In July the Black Theatre Collective, which includes Paapa Essiedu, Clarke Peters and the Hamilton star Jamael Westman, called for reform of the UK industry.

The group had five recommendations, including that hair and makeup teams be trained in afro hair by this summer, and that the “appropriate skin tone makeup, underwear and physio strapping” be given to actors.

Brooks is producing an episode on hair and makeup, saying it “feels quite trivial” to some people but is “one of the biggest ways that micro aggressions manifest in the arts and entertainment industries”.