'Ideally a writer of any colour should be able to write about anything', says Rex Obano
Rex Obano is the playwright and actor who over the next few months will be frequently appearing on the London stage. As an actor he is part of the cast for Death and the Kings Horseman which opens at the National Theatre on the 1st April and as a playwright, his play The Day After is having two nights of rehearsed readings at the Oval Theatre. The play explores The Reformation period of 16th Century England when many loyal subjects to the crown were asked to make a terrible choice: to follow their monarch, Henry VIII, or their God.
You’re currently in rehearsals for Death and the King’s Horseman, how is that going?
Rehearsals are going very well and it’s great to be back at the National Theatre and an honour – as an actor and playwright of Nigerian descent – to be part of a Wole Soyinka play. He has been a great inspiration to me and I am learning a great deal because Death and the King’s Horseman is such a poetic, prophetic and utterly brilliant piece of writing which mixes a great story with tradition and culture.
Actor or playwright – which one do you prefer?
That’s hard. I started out doing both so I don’t really know one without the other. I suppose I prefer the one that I am doing at the time, but it’s difficult since I am now doing both! Acting and writing for me are ways of telling stories and that is something I never tire of doing. Nowadays, I find, my acting work informs my writing and writing helps my acting.
Why did you get into playwriting?
I had ambitions of being a journalist when I was younger. That was due to the fact that I had a very good English teacher who noticed and inspired my love of words…Before I went to university I received a special commendation in a writing competition run by Vogue magazine. That summer I spent time in Toronto working, writing and finding myself. I started university with a clutch of these writings and presented them to the University Drama Society. Then I realised the power of theatre. Those monologues were the basis of my first play – a one man show called Behind That Curtain. I left university – which included studying acting and playwriting in New York – and went to drama school. After that I wrote my first short play when I was a young actor at the RSC.
How did the idea for The Day After come about?
My good friend and fellow actor, Owen Oakeshott, told me about a book he was reading called Shadowplay by Claire Asquith. He told me that the book posed the theory of whether Shakespeare was a Catholic in the years following the English Reformation. The book explained that reading Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets with this information (especially his problem plays) and understanding his coded language would give a much clearer reading of his canon. I read the book and further research unearthed that a significant date for the Catholic resistance of the time was 6th July.
What is it about The Reformation that interested you?
The Reformation was a period of great change – artistically and politically – and that has always been a feature of my work. The significance of this date 6th of July (in relation to 7th July – 7/7) was not lost on me and coupled with that similarities of the dates 400 years apart and the themes of religious intolerance where British born subjects wanted to destroy their own country formed the genesis of the play.
What are your own religious beliefs?
I was brought up in a Christian family then my father converted to Islam when I was about 9. I did a philosophy degree when I was 21 which made me question everything – especially religion.
The play aims to “Understand the tragedy of the present day by looking at the past” – how?
A play about the events of the 7/7 bombing could have been centred around Islam, British Asians and suicide bombs, but I thought that an examination of similar circumstances in British history would further illuminate and help understand the action behind the tragedies. What The Day After tries to do is show how similar we are by the telling of a love story and illuminates the complex personal relations which I believe are behind every political act.
Are you comfortable with the label ‘Black Writer’?
Many writers seem to be uncomfortable with the label ‘Black Writer’ as if it somehow is demeaning. I have no control on how I am seen or who chooses to label me. I am comfortable in my race and feel no compunction to promote it over and above its existence in my work. My writing will always be what I am. So, I am only concerned with doing the best and truest work I can. I will always write from the centre of my soul and my plays will be imbued with themes of isolation, class, identity, culture and sex – if that labels me a ‘Black Writer’ then I am more than happy with that.
As a ‘Black Writer’, do you feel you are able to write outside you race?
Idealistically a writer of any colour should be able to write about anything, but that is not really the case. The business seems to want a writer of any note to produce more of what made them a writer of note. The first rule of writing is to write about what you know, but I think that is taken too literally. What you know can be beneath the skin as well as the colour of it.
Finally, who would you say this play is for; who is the target audience?
This play is for anyone who wants to be entertained by a good story. My target audience is anyone who wants their heart and mind engaged.
