Interview: 'It's There to Entertain, But Also to Provoke': Actor Cherrelle Skeete on History, Provocation and Activism in BENEATHA'S PLACE at the Young Vic

Recently, BroadwayWorld spoke with Cherrelle Skeete, who is playing the role of Beneatha in Beneatha’s Place at the Young Vic. Inspired by the groundbreaking civil rights drama, A Raisin in the Sun, Beneatha's Place challenges today's culture wars about colonial history and reckoning with the past.

We discussed what it’s like to be in a show inspired by A Raisin in the Sun, the importance of history, and what she hopes audiences will take away from the show. 

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What made you want to be a part of Beneatha’s Place?

I have loved A Raisin in the Sun. When I first came across it, we were studying it at college, and I got to watch a production of it. I always felt drawn to the character of Beneatha because she represented the younger generation. She was ahead of her time. She was full of ambition and angst and frustration. I always wanted to play that part. Also getting to see the incredible Norma Dumezweni and Lennie James in that production, it was just an incredible cast, and I was completely blown away. I've never seen a production like that. And then learning the history behind Lorraine Hansberry and all that was happening around that time . . . for a play like that to exist was just so powerful.

For me, Lorraine Hansberry and Beneatha, they're very interconnected, and I really connected to both of them. So, I suppose I've as time has gone, I just thought, well, there's been quite a few productions. So then seeing that this play existed, and being called in to meet Kwame [Kwei-Armah] and to read for it, it was just like, “Oh, okay, it’s focused solely on Beneatha’s and what happens after A Raisin in the Sun?” And she's the central character? Recalling it, it's one of those things where everything aligns. And I had to overcome my own personal belief system of knowing that I could do it as well. 

What has it been like to be a part of a show inspired by such a famous piece like A Raisin in the Sun? 

It feels historical because it's a British premiere and specifically because we're getting to tell the story post the murder of George Floyd, post coming out of lockdown. It means that this play is now resonating in a slightly different way in the way that it was originally presented in the early 2010s - it was a response piece to Clybourne Park. Now, through the rehearsal process, we've been carving and making cuts so it really stands as a response piece to where we are now. The dialogues between what's happening here and in America as well, the dialogues that have come out of culture wars happening and the cyclical nature of where people sit on the left or on the right . . . the feeling of rage that people are experiencing.

What are the stories that we're going to be telling about this time now? Who has ownership over those stories? A big quote that Beneatha says is, “Those who own history own the future, those who own the present own the past.” So it's really important for us to celebrate where we are, identify the problems that we have in order to resolve, but also to acknowledge history and use history as an example of where we have gone wrong in the past. And using that as a way of moving forward as opposed to erasing it. That has a lot to do with who owns our history and what we identify as being important and not important. So all of those subject matters get brought up in the play, and it's brought up some really interesting dialogues within the rehearsal room. I almost want to be a fly on the wall when audience members come out in the interval and even at the end of the show because it is a piece of political theatre. It's a provocation. It's there to entertain, but also to provoke thought.

Speaking of history, how did you prepare for this role? 

So I re-read A Raisin in the Sun and I also watched the film with Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier. I watched lots of videos, specifically looking at Black women academics - Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison . . . Nicola Rollock, who is our cultural consultant. She's one of 45 black woman professors in the UK, and she's incredible. So she really gave us an idea in terms of the cultural landscape and the relationships within academia as a black woman because it's a space that we don't really get to see depicted very often. So the academic side, and then also looking at Nikki Giovanni, these incredible thinkers during the Civil Rights Movement . . . Angela Davis, I was listening to her autobiography as well. And really just drawing on these incredible people and hopefully, using all of what they've spoken about and just being inspired.

These are incredible people who have literally dedicated their life and their mission to making social change through the activism of taking up space within academia, writing books, literally documenting and archiving spaces, and then teaching the next generation. It's just really, really powerful, really inspiring. So I've actually really enjoyed delving into all of that research!

Do you have any recommendations for people looking to get more into the subject?

Stuff around pre-independence in Nigeria. Funmilayo Kuti, who is Fela Kuti’s mother, was an incredible activist, specifically a women's rights activist within Nigeria, and she really advocated for education and healthcare systems. She was an incredible part of the social movement and equality for all. And she gets overshadowed a lot for being Fela Kuti’s mum, but she was an activist in her own right - she trained him! 

All of these grassroots organisations . . . I think we feel like it has to be one person, but it's a collective of really inspiring groups of people who have been at the root of change, and inspired and given confidence to the wider community to really invest in people power. So there's lots there, but I think it's great to really look into specifically the African liberation movement because it's been ongoing.

And you've had your own share of activism! Can you tell us more about Blacktress UK?

So Blacktress came out of many conversations between different generations of black women. I think there was a real sense of isolation that was happening at the time, 2017, pre-pandemic. So a lot of the conversation was first of all about bringing people together, being able to have space to speak about the issues, even being able to celebrate oneself when the mainstream spaces weren't necessarily recognising one's achievements. So it was about being able to get people together and look them in the eye and say, “Listen, we matter. And we have to affirm ourselves.” So it was about getting people together to affirm ourselves firstly, then it was getting into workshops and creating work, then it was about them producing work.

We produced the festival in 2018 called the Blacktress Season at the Seven Dials Playhouse and we had 19 Work in Progress shows, all written by black women. Our goal was to platform black women writers, voices of all different parts of the African diaspora, looking at all different subjects; parenthood, home, community, sexuality, menopause, across all different subject matters.

What we really wanted to do was to make a real wave within the theatre world. And it's been amazing to see so many of our alumni go on. Some of them were actors, and they've got agents and they've gone on and done incredible work in like Sex Education, or they've got their shows picked up by big theatres and they've got a full run at Soho Theatre, like Shuck ‘n’ Jive. We've had shows that have gone on to other festivals. So we really saw a shift in black women gaining self-esteem through the strength of community and advocating for themselves and leaning on the community to make work, not waiting for the industry to open things up, but to really be involved. And it's amazing seeing so many black women now stepping into producing and becoming showrunners themselves.

It's great seeing a wider variety of voices that are telling stories and that are in the room that's making important choices as opposed to being in front of the camera; really making decisions when it comes from the creation of an idea to the person that's actually picking who's going to be part of that team. And that's something that everybody benefits from because then we get to see varieties of stories that are layered and complex, and that is a reflection of our society. So that's something that we're constantly working towards. 

What do you hope audiences take away from Beneatha’s Place?

I want the audience to reflect on what has happened in the past and to make those connections to what is happening right now. I want them to tell their friends to come and watch the show. I hope it will encourage people to learn about history; global history, American history, British history, specifically colonial history and the impact that has had because it explains why migration works the way that it does.

We make these laws and we set these ridges up in terms of differences that pushes people further apart. You would understand that based on what's happened in the past, of course, we were going to get here. So, let's always keep trying to hold on to and remember where we're coming from. But most importantly, I really just feel honoured to tell this story. I feel so grateful. The cast are incredible. Everyone is so talented! When you've got an incredible supporting company, you feel like you can fly. And an incredible director-writer, the whole creative team that puts so much time into the show. So I really hope, first and foremost, that people just feel something. I'm incredibly proud of it as a piece of work.

And finally, how would you describe the show in one word?

I'm gonna say “punch.” It's a punch in your heart and in your gut. 

Beneatha’s Place runs at the Young Vic until 5 August

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