East End Review

Tag: Roy Williams

  • Hackney actor is a headstrong heroine as Antigone

    Gamba Cole and Savannah Gordon Liburd in Antigone. Photograph: Robert Day
    Gamba Cole and Savannah Gordon Liburd in Antigone. Photograph: Robert Day

    After making her film debut in Sally El Hosaini’s My Brother the Devil, Hackney’s Savannah Gordon-Liburd is forging ahead in her acting career. This month she will be prowling the stage as the complex titular character in Roy Williams’ daring contemporary production of Sophocles’ Antigone, in the last leg of its UK tour at Theatre Royal Stratford East.

    Writer Roy Williams has described this production as “a play for today’s streets”. Do you think that it is relevant to audiences?

    It’s very relevant to London – topics that are played out in the production are really relatable to young people especially. It’s a modern reworking of an ancient story, in a way that’s easy to understand.

    How does Williams’ vision play into Marcus Romer’s direction of your character?

    Roy has given Antigone a new lease of life. Although she has the same essence as the original, it’s a completely new piece. Marcus encourages input from actors, and lets us make the words our own. It really is a breath of fresh air. The way Roy writes is very natural, which allows me to play Tig freely.

    Antigone is an incredibly headstrong character. Does that resonate with you?

    I grew up very differently from Tig, although Roy saw qualities in me that are in her too. I’m confident and not a follower, so I’ve put myself in her shoes. You could say I’ve taken my personality and put it into her.

    Antigone so far has had some stellar reviews – does that put you under pressure as an actor?

    People have loved it! They’ve said they’ve never seen anything like it, which is great feedback. I’m really excited to be on stage in London, but it’s nerve-wracking doing it at home in front of friends and family. After performing the same piece for so long, you just want it to be new and fresh and amazing for every new audience.

    Do you think this production will bring in new audiences?

    This is a big thing for us: a lot of young people don’t think theatre is for them, particularly when it’s something like Antigone, a Greek play that’s so ancient. But schools have come in and said it’s the best thing, which is great. There’s a lot of comedy in it, as well as darkness, and it’s so relatable. It’s not a typical production, so hopefully it will open up a realm of exciting theatre for young people especially.

    Where do you think this role will take you next?

    I’ve got no idea what’s next! I’m hoping that I can go on to bigger things, as I want to make my career out of this. Antigone is my fourth tour since 2011, it’s what I know. I love TV too and want to do film, so I hope that it’s up from here – fingers crossed!

    Antigone is at Theatre Royal Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square, E15 1BN from 19 February – 14 March
    stratfordeast.com

  • Roy Williams to make return to East London with new play Kingston 14

    Playwright Roy Williams
    Playwright Roy Williams

    When Roy Williams’ debut play was shown at Stratford East 18 years ago the odds were stacked against him, not least because few black playwrights at the time were enjoying mainstream success.

    But ever since childhood, growing up in Notting Hill on a diet of seventies TV drama, Williams believed he had something to say, and his career to date has justified that conviction, with a string of celebrated plays about black British life, as well as an OBE, to his credit.

    This month Williams returns to Stratford East for the first time, with Kingston 14, a play that looks beyond Williams’ usual compass of black Britain to Jamaica, the ‘sunshine isle’ from where both his parents emigrated.

    “It’s a drama that deals with levels of police corruption in the Jamaican police force but it’s also really about people living in Jamaica doing what they do to get by,” says Williams.

    Kingston 14 is the postcode of an area of Kingston called Denham, with the play the story of a British police officer who is sent there to investigate the murder of a British tourist. The investigation runs into difficulties when a gang leader, played by musician turned actor Goldie, is brought into custody.

    “The play lifts the lid on an aspect of Jamaica I would say not many people have seen,” says Williams.

    “If you put aside all the sun, the sea and all the stereotypes it’s quite a poor island actually and poverty breeds criminality and corruption so that’s what I’m pinpointing in the play.”

    A lot of Williams’ plays are explicitly about race: from the racial tensions and football yobbery of Sing Yer Hearts Out For the Lads to the award-winning Sucker Punch and most recently his play Advice For the Young at Heart which looked into the 1958 Notting Hill race riots.

    Kingston 14, however, is not overtly about race, and while featuring an all-black cast, Williams is ambivalent about the label ‘black theatre’.

    “Naturally because I’m black that’s going to be my point of reference. But my plays are for everybody. I don’t just write for black audiences, I write for all audiences that are interested in theatre,” he says.

    Williams’ recent plays have been staged at the Royal Court and National Theatre, but the playwright is quick to recognise his debt to Stratford East, who took a risk on him all those years back.

    “They say it’s a people theatre and it really does live up to that. Audiences that see a play at Stratford East are very involved and supportive, and unlike any other.”

    Williams, now 45, remains prolific – with a new play emerging nearly every year. He insists though that writing plays never gets easier.

    “Once you’ve finished one play you go back to the beginning and stare at that computer screen and try and work out what’s the next thing that’s going to come flowing out of my brain,” he reveals.

    “No it never gets easier and it shouldn’t – it’s flipping hard writing a play. But if I didn’t like it I would have stopped doing it long ago.”

    Kingston 14 is at Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square, Greater Theatre Square, E15 1BN from 28 March – 28 April

     

  • Advice for the Young at Heart – Theatre Centre commissioned play looks at 1958 and 2011 riots in London

    Adrian Richards and Alix Ross star in Advice for the Young at Heart. Photograph: Sarah London
    Adrian Richards and Alix Ross star in Advice for the Young at Heart. Photograph: Sarah London

    Much has been said and written about the riots which swept London in 2011. Everyone from politicians to social workers have voiced their opinions on the state of our youth and their future.

    Attempting to get to grips with these issues, Advice for the Young at Heart sets out to examine both contemporaneous teenage experiences and young struggles from a previous era.

    Award-winning playwright Roy Williams sets the scene with simultaneous plots relating the 1958 Notting Hill race riots and the events of 2011, telling its story through the eyes of 17 to 21-year-old characters.

    The play, commissioned by the Shoreditch based Theatre Centre, features a cast of four relatively undiscovered emerging talents and specifically targets young audiences aged 14 and over.

    This need to appeal to a current audience is reflected in segments of dialogue such as this from the sole female part, Candice: “Join a crew, you get family. You get brers who will die for you. Stand up for you. You get respect.”

    Given the widespread frustration and disillusionment that large sections of inner city youth have recently expressed combined with the perception they are being ostracised, the goal of catering a play towards them is particularly ambitious.

    With the direction and target of Roy Williams’ writing in mind, the acid test for the production will be the response of young people.

    So far the play is doing well, with its autumn tour of schools and public venues across the country being extended to the spring.

    A promotional YouTube video features a teacher of Year 11 drama students, who said: “It’s a piece of theatre which genuinely appeals to a young audience, which they didn’t find patronising or boring.”

    The same clip also features pupils describing the production with words such as ‘amazing, brilliant, real, educational, moving, refreshing and emotional.’

    While any such public airing will clearly highlight the most positive views, the fact that so many teenagers seem to relate to the play is notable.

    Beyond the theatre, the need for young people to find their place in the world remains as strong as ever, especially after the London riots, and any attempt to encourage this is worthy of some attention.

     http://www.theatre-centre.co.uk/shows/2013/advice-for-the-young-at-heart/