Stefan Adegbola as Associate Pastor in the Christians (left). Photo credit for image (right): Heloise Faure
Stefan Adegbola’s first acting break has all the hallmarks of the fantasy start, which happens to so few actors. In 2013 he landed his first role in Michael Grandage’s Midsummer Night’s Dream when he hadn’t yet graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After that head-turning beginning, he has continued to make great strides in the theatre, appearing in some of the classics, such as The Merchant of Venice and Othello.
Described by one critic “a class act”, Adegbola is now making waves as the Associate Pastor in Lucas Hnath’s The Christians at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh before it transfers to the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill. The self confessed bookworm tells Joy Francis why he intends to read all of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s work, is inspired by actor and director Lucian Msamati and believes the current government is reducing the opportunities for budding actors to have a career.
You are playing the Associate Pastor in The Christians. The play takes place during a single church service in the US with a full scale community choir. It sounds amazing. What drew you to the role and the play?
I was drawn to the writing. Whenever I look at anything new, the strength of the writing is what will decide it for me. That’s because my training was quite classical, so a lot of importance was placed on the text. It’s important that the quality of the words is strong enough to drive the story forward. When I read The Christians, I thought it was amazing, beautiful and poetic. It’s very powerful and the characters were very clear to me after only a quick read of the play. As for my character, it is a very interesting role. He is a young man who has been through a lot in his short life and he has found peace through his faith. I’m not religious myself, but I can relate to the idea of having a devotion to the work that you do.
Your first role, barely out of drama school in 2013, was Michael Grandage’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Knowing what you know now, would you have handled that acting experience any differently?
Oh my goodness, yes. I had a great time. What’s special about your first job is as long as you don’t do anything too bad, you are allowed to make mistakes. You are not expected to get it right straight away, and you are encouraged to discover what works. That is something a lot of people don’t know or understand about acting and the theatre, and just drama in general. Our failures make us. The main thing I would have told myself two years ago was to chill out. Don’t worry about it. You got the job because you deserve it. You are good enough and you will be good in it. I was very nervous because as it was my first job, because it was a production with famous people in it, and I was working with a renowned director who I didn’t know myself.
Why acting? What was the pull as you also dance and sing?
Acting was something I was always fairly good at and enjoyed. As I got older and trained, it became clear to me that it’s a job that requires a lot of work, but it’s very rewarding. I don’t mean financially or in terms of recognition, though that’s all nice. I mean rewarding in that if you feel satisfied with the work that you have done and the people you have worked with, you can go into the world feeling proud. It’s a very empowering job.
You call yourself a book worm. What are you reading?
Right now I’m reading quite a few books. I’ve wanted to read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun for ages. I read her novel Americanah last year and I was blown away by the way she writes about race, politics and gender. She created a seamless good story. I saw her TED Talks about how we are defined by our stories. It got me thinking how there are seven billion people on this planet and if you think about yourself, you have history and stories of friendship, love, fears, hopes and dreams. Multiply those stories by seven billion and just imagine the amount of stories we have on this planet. After seeing that talk and reading her book, I decided I had to eat up this woman’s entire output.
Adrian Lester is often quoted as being an inspiration to young black actors, such as Ashley Zhangazha and Zackary Momoh. Who are your influences and what impact do you want your career to have on aspiring young actors of colour?
The most powerful thing for me is to imagine that in 30 or 40 years time, being approached by a young black actor who says that what they love about me is that I just got on with it. That has always been my attitude. I’m from a Yoruba family and they are a very proud people. I’ve been brought up with a sense of, if you are going to do something, just do it and be proud that you are doing it, regardless of what others say to you. This has been a great support to me as the words ‘despite being a black actor’ have never crossed my mind. This is especially important now with the Act for Change project, promoting diversity in the arts across the board. It’s an incredible endeavour. At the same time I also think it’s incredible that I have a chance, whenever I’m working, to just get on with it. Another source of inspiration is Lucian Msamati. He has a dedication to the work, and he is aware of the assumptions placed on him as a non-British black actor, but the quality of his work supersedes and demolishes those assumptions. Those are amazing qualities I’d love to develop in myself.
You have done a lot of the classic plays such as Othello and The Merchant of Venice. Would you like to do more TV and film?
I would love to do more TV and film. I love theatre. It’s one of the most powerful forms of entertainment and storytelling. However, TV and film reach more people and that, in my opinion, says a lot about the state of theatre – but I don’t want to go into that. If more people watch TV and go to the cinema, then there is a responsibility for TV drama-makers and filmmakers to honour that by writing good stories. The number of good stories there are on TV and film outweigh, by sheer volume, those in theatre. I would ideally like to do all three. With my career so far, I would love to do more film, especially TV as it’s going through a golden age, especially in America, with some good British dramas.
What advice do you have for other budding actors, particularly of colour?
Under the current government, I would say be creative because those at the top want to take those opportunities away from you. You have to hold on to your sense of self and to the sense that you have the talent and you are willing to work hard enough. Remember, you have a right to pursue this as a career option. You have to be more inventive, more talented and more hardworking. You need to become your own superhero to fight through all of that. It’s not easy for anyone.
The Christians runs at Traverse Theatre Edinburgh until 30 August 2015, then it will transfer to the Gate Theatre, London, from 8 September to 3 October 2015.