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Hollywood star Delroy Lindo and British actress Adjoa Andoh talk to Davina Morris about their upcoming theatre production, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

WALKING into the rehearsal space of a major production is always going to be daunting. When that rehearsal is particularly intense, it’s even more nerve-wracking wondering what mood the cast will be in when it’s over.

Clearly, it hasn’t been a problem free run through. As actress Adjoa Andoh takes her seat opposite me, lunch in hand, she uses an apt comparison to describe the challenges the cast has been facing.

“It must be like when you’re putting an edition of the newspaper together –

so many different articles to put together. Or when you’re writing an article and there are a number of different bits you want to include, but still need to make it flow. It’s a bit like that.”

Gotcha. But thankfully, the much-loved British actress is ready for the challenge ahead, as she gears up to undertake the role of boarding house owner Bertha in the Young Vic’s production of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

“It’s a fantastic play,” she enthuses. “But Delroy is the expert on August Wilson plays.”

Enter veteran US star Delroy Lindo, right on cue.

“Did I hear ‘Delroy’ and ‘expert’ in the same sentence? I don’t know about that,” he laughs.

Modest though he is, Lindo admits he does feel “connected” to the production. No surprise really, as he starred in it when it first ran on Broadway in 1988 and went on to direct the play when it ran at the Berkeley Rep Theatre in California in 2008.

Set in post-slavery Pittsburgh in 1911, the production tells the story of black Americans still searching for their identity and their place in the world.

“The play is about a man named Herold Loomis (played by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) who comes to Pittsburgh in search of his wife,” Lindo explains. “There, he meets a man named Bynum Walker (Lindo), who goes on to influence what happens throughout the course of the play.

“Herold is looking for his wife but that runs parallel with what the play is ultimately about, and that’s the notion of people of African descent looking for themselves; searching for their own identity in post-slavery America. But I think this play connects with people of African descent wherever they may be, who are looking to find a place of belonging and identity.”

August Wilson’s powerful account of a people’s attempts to recover from the trauma of slavery won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play when it first ran on Broadway back in ‘88. Fast-forward two decades and Bristol-born Andoh – known for her roles in BBC dramas Casualty and Doctor Who – feels that the play, with its issues of racial identity and belonging, remains relevant today, both for US and British black

audiences alike.

“I think it’s very hard to know who you are if you’re disconnected from how you got to be where you are. I think there’s a lot of disconnection in this country. I remember when I was filming Casualty in Bristol, there was a large Somalian community there and the kids used to hang around the set. They were quite young and they’d mostly grown up in Bristol, and some of them just had no sense of where Somalia is, or any sense of connection to their heritage.

“I got talking to some of them and I told them that my dad is from Ghana and explained that Ghana is in Africa as well. So I do think that many black Britons are disconnected from their heritage and I really hope that lots of young black people come to see this play because I think it will be interesting to them.”

US-based Lindo, who starred in Spike Lee’s films Malcolm X, Clockers and Crooklyn, also has his own take on the position of black Britons. Understandable really, as he used to be one…

“I was born in Lewisham,” says the 57-year-old. Born to Jamaican parents, Lindo moved with his mother to Toronto when he was a teenager and then moved to San Francisco to study acting.

Clearly still connected to his UK roots, he offered his own take on black British identity.

“Comparing the black American community with the black British community, one of the main differences is, in America we had the Civil Rights movement and the Civil Rights experience. As a result, there was a very definite racial paradigm shift in society. A similar movement hasn’t happened here in Britain, which means that certain forms of social and political progress haven’t yet been made by the black British community. I know I don’t live here, but that’s what I’ve observed.”

Andoh agrees: “I think that’s fair. I think there’s a much more fragmented history here of how and when black people got to Britain. Black Americans have had a longer history of being a large social group in America. Of course, there were black people in Britain since Roman times. But in terms of being a large social group, our history is much more fragmented.”

Collectively boasting established careers in the worlds of theatre, television and film, both Andoh and Lindo are well-respected players in their fields. In addition to his work with Spike Lee, Lindo has also starred in films including Ransom, Gone in 60 Seconds and Romeo Must Die.

Similarly, Andoh is one of our much-loved acting talents, with theatre credits including In The Red and Brown Water and film credits including Noel Clarke’s Adulthood, and, more recently, the hit film Invictus, in which she starred alongside Morgan Freeman.

Still, ask both actors whether they feel famous and they both look somewhat perplexed. Andoh is the first to offer an answer.

“No,” says the married mother of three. “You still have to change your babies’ nappies!”

Lindo agrees: “Exactly. You still have to take your kids to school and go to your kids’ basketball games and all of that. But I do feel very privelleged. I remember years ago, I was in Rome with my wife. We were walking along and these two young men walked passed us, but then one of the men turned around, looked at me and said, ‘Delroy Lindo!’ I don’t think he could speak much English, but he knew who I was.

“It is a wonderful thing when people say nice things. But the challenge is to not lose perspective... You’ve still gotta put out the trash!”

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is at the Young Vic, London from May 27-June 3. For tickets call 020 7922 2922 or visit www.youngvic.org

Published: 16 May 2010
Issue: 1423

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