THE RENDITION MEETS THE CAST OF BENEATHA’S PLACE
“I’ve not been in an environment where we can speak about race so openly, and that is a testament to Kwame and the environment, and the people he chose to be in that room - there is a real sense of care, (where) we all know that we are part of something special. ”
Beneatha’s Place started its run at the Young Vic on the 27th June 2023.
Over the past 5 weeks Kwame Kwei-Armah’s play has captured the hearts of many, including us here at The Rendition.
The play follows the life of a revolutionary Beneatha as she navigates the difficulties and challenges that life presents to her as she reclaims her history. Last week, we sat down with Cherrelle Skeete and Zackary Momoh to discuss the play and the impact it has had on them as individuals and actors.
“(From) the audiences that come in, I’m gaining (these) perspectives that I ordinarily wouldn’t get out of just sitting on my own, and these perspectives help...me in terms of how I move in this world as a Black man. How I stand up may look a little different now because of this play. ”
Tell me a bit about yourself?
Cherrelle Skeete: Originally from Birmingham, London is my second home and I play the many different versions of Beneatha in Beneatha’s Place. I’m having a wonderful time, everyday, I feel very fortunate to tell Beneatha’s story.
Zackary Momoh: Nigerian-British, I play Wale Oguns and Joseph Asagai. I’m enjoying playing both characters and playing alongside this incredible woman. My favourite colour is green, sage green.
QUESTION: How has it been playing Beneatha?
Cherrelle Skeete: Let me tell you something about Beneatha, Beneatha is a gift of a part. It’s very rare that I’ve personally seen a character that is so complex. I get to play in a ‘just rage’ I call it. She’s enraged and she gets to speak truth to power. I think it’s very rare as a woman, and as a Black woman to get the opportunity to speak truth to power in that way without us being arrested or seen as mad. It’s not safe for us to do that. The themes of grief are also very big for the character; she's a community builder, she's incredibly intelligent and greatly accomplished. Not only do I get to play a character that is highly intelligent, that is witty, she’s also rude and flawed, and vulnerable.
I get to play all the varieties. You get to see her as a wife, a young wife, a surrogate mother - you get to see her in all these complexities. I’ve never played a character where I get to lean into all of these different aspects of full rounded humanity; cause that's what we all experience within our everyday lives.
There have been times where I’ve likened it to ‘How to Get Away with Murder’, seeing Viola Davis play the complexity of that role. She’s a woman who is so calculated with the moves that she makes, she's the bad guy as well as the good guy and you're not sure whether you're on her side, but you just find her fascinating and I think Beneatha has those qualities.
Specifically for that role (Beneatha), written by a Black man, it’s highly commendable for Kwame. It’s very rare that I’ve seen a man write a role that is so complex for women, the only other writer that I’ve seen write like that is James Baldwin.
QUESTION: What is the dynamic you feel playing both Wale and Asagai?
Zackary Momoh: Outside of the voice, I think I had to go to the foundation which is the body. The bodies of the two. How Asagai walks vs how Wale walks. How they sit, how they stand, where the pains are in their bodies; The pressure (however), is different for them both, and that does something different to their body, (they have a) different set of responsibilities.
With Asagai, he’s more upright and in his core he’s more centred, whereas with Wale he walks more leading forward, he’s more on his shoulders. Asagai has had a set of responsibilities from a very young age, he’s had to learn how to stand upright and to be upright, whereas Wale has come from a place of privilege to thrive on the shoulders of people like Asagai.
Many ancestors have come before and after Asagai to arrive at Wale, he’s that new generation who buy the laptop, where we sit and enjoy whatever we can. There is so much privilege that we have now in 2023 as people, compared to what someone would have had in Nigeria in 1959. They had to use both their minds and their bodies, and Asagai's uprightness is an indication of that. I found it very stimulating to go from one to the other.
I have a musical playlist for both to help me get into either one; in Act one I get to listen to the likes of Fela, listen to Jazz and certain Classical music like Phillip Glass, James Brown. With Wale, I listen to a lot of Kendrick Lamar, to get into that space. With each type of music, they kind of just do something to the body that allows me to just get there.
QUESTION: What does this play mean to you?
Cherrelle Skeete: There’s are words that are on the poster and it says ‘reclaim’. There is something in that for me… I suppose we go through different chapters in our lives, and I really don't see it as a coincidence that I get to perform as Benetha on my birthday. Playing her has definitely made me stand a little bit taller in myself. This is the first time that I’ve actively been asked to lead a company, so career wise this is a very big moment for me.
I’ve been out here for the past 12 years and I’ve built a really steady (and) successful career in regards to what I’ve done. I'm really proud of the projects I’ve been part of. But, I think there is something really special, and a turning point for me…. having played a lot of supporting roles and then being able to lead a company, it’s a shift within my own paradigm.
Zackary Momoh: Internally, each character gives me access to a part of my craft that I wouldn’t be able to tap into without this specific character; and their desires and fears and wants - unlocking it. With these two characters, they’ve given me these new layers that I didn’t know I had in my arsenal. They’ve been able to unearth these things. Every show something new comes out, a new layer because of these characters. I have a huge sense of gratitude for it, cause I think for me one of my core desires with my artistry is to meet excellency; I used say I’ve been chasing excellency for a while, but to echo what Cherrelle’s been saying, I read it as excellency has always been in me. What is the difference between good and excellence or good and great… opportunity. With this opportunity, I’ve been able to tap into this form of excellency in how well the characters are written and how much subtext is available for us to extract, to dig deeper to find more.
It meant me really tapping into my own excellence, to my own greatness with these two great characters; one representing the standpoint of the past and the other representing the future and the choices the future has to make in order to enact the vision of the past.
The second part of my answer would be the exterior and what this has meant for me. It’s given me a wider scope and view of how much the generation below us are the future. You’ve always heard ‘children are the future’, but I kid you not one of the most riveting and the most thought provoking and in depth conversations I’ve had post show has been with the younger generation; they are tapped in. It’s been important for me to see that because this play has had different stages of awakening and alignment of spirits and energies for this one goal - to put on a really impactful piece of art.
QUESTION: So, what would you say has been the most exciting part of this play?
Cherelle Skeete: Each audience, depending on the demographic will be so different. The second half of the play really leaves room for discussion. The audience wants to get involved in the arguments that are happening on stage… They are having their own experience in response to the play and I’m really fascinated by that.
And, when Aunty Fola (Jumoke Fashola) steps on that stage, she has the strongest Nigerian voice; she represents culture in that space, and I really feel the warmth from the Nigerian audience members that they are with us.
QUESTION: Describe the play in 3 words.
Zackary Momoh: Hilarious, impactful and thought-provoking
Cherrelle Skeete: Provocative, educational and unapologetic.
QUESTION: To end, any last words?
Zacakary Momoh: Tell a friend to tell a friend.
You can catch Beneatha’s Place at the Young Vic until 5th August.
