20 Questions With…Rhashan Stone

After starting his career before he even finished his training – with a part in Five Guys Named Moe – Rhashan Stone has gone on to perform at some of the power houses of British theatre including the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Whilst at the RSC he appeared in the epic This England: The History Cycle which comprised Henry VI parts I,II and II, also Richard II, Hamlet, Much Ado and Camino Real.

His other Shakespeare experience includes The Tempest (WYP), Merry Wives of Windsor and As you Like It (Cheek by Jowl). His other credits include Present Laughter and The Seagull (WYP), Sweeney Todd and The Red Balloon (NT), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Animal Crackers, Happy End, Doughnuts, The Inland Sea and Roy Williams’ Clubland at the Royal Court.

On television Stone has appeared in The Bill, Fifteen Stories High, Holby City, Picking up the Pieces, The Detectives, Goodnight Sweetheart and Desmonds, while film credits include Wondrous Oblivion.

Stone adapted the Odyssey for Push 01 entitled Pantheon of The Gods, which paid homage to the Black actors who over the space of 50 years change the landscape of British performance in theatre, TV and film. He officially made his playwriting debut this year with Two Step at the Almeida as part of the three-week Push04 festival of Black-led performing arts (See News, 14 Jul 2004).

In March 2003 Stone played Jesse B. Semple in the acclaimed Young Vic production of Langston Hughes’ 1957 musical Simply Heavenly, he is currently reprising the role in the show’s West End transfer.

Date & place of birth

I was born on 3 November 1969 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. It’s about half an hour from Manhattan. My mother and father, both African-Americans, separated when I was very young. A few years later my mother met a young white singer while they were both touring with Cliff Richard. The hardest thing for them was being together as a mixed-race couple. That was a real problem in a lot of the places they toured to in the US at the time, and so they moved to a more liberal setting, London. I’ve been here ever since.

Lives now in…
Marylebone, north London.

Trained at…
Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

First big break
My first big break came when I was still at college. It was at the end of the second year when I was asked to audition for Five Guys Named Moe. That was my first job.

Career highlights to date

That’s easy – the all-male As You Like It that I did with Cheek By Jowl, Declan Donnellan’s company. We took it on a world tour and it was an amazing experience. The other highlight was when I was working for the RSC and we did all of Shakespeare’s History plays over two weeks. Some people came every single day over those two weeks – including matinees – and they brought their flasks and sandwiches and saw all of the plays. And, of course, Simply Heavenly.

Favourite productions you’ve ever worked on

I really loved doing Sweeney Todd at the National and I did a Roy Williams play called Clubland at the Royal Court. I’d just spent three years doing Shakespeare so it was great to do something contemporary with a cheesy 1980s soundtrack and costumes. It was so so completely different to what I had been doing.

Favourite co-stars

Alex Jennings without a shadow of a doubt. I did Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing with him. I would also say Siobhan Redmond who was also in Much Ado, and Ian McKellen, who I did The Tempest and Noel Coward’s Present Laughter with at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. And I can’t forget my lovely leading ladies in Simply Heavenly – I include Clive Rowe in that, he’s an honorary leading lady in my eyes.

Favourite playwrights
I have a few. Neil LaBute, I loved his shows at the Almeida. I’m also a huge fan of black American writer James Baldwin. Although he’s best known as a novelist, he wrote some plays too, very political. But I would have to say my favourite playwright of all time is Chekhov.

You wrote your first play, Two Step, earlier this year. Are there more in the pipeline?
Well, I’ve certainly got ideas but I have to check with my wife (the actress Olivia Williams) because she nearly divorced me the last time! You see a writer’s life is all-encompassing and my first draft was due at the same time as my daughter was being born. I got married, had a baby and wrote my first play all in the same six months. That’s a pretty tall mountain to climb. Next time I’ll give myself more space. I’m actually working on a musical at the moment. I’m not allowed to say much about it, but I will do soon.

You’ve previously revealed to Whatsonstage.com your life’s ambition to be the first black artistic director of the National Theatre (See The Goss, 14 Jul 2004). Have you ever directed before?
A long time ago, I directed a play called The Erpingham Camp by Joe Orton. When I was 11, my dad asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said a theatre director. He thought I was mad. Later, I decided the best way to learn to be a director was to be an actor first, and that’s what’s got me now. But directing is my first love and I’ll go back to it one day.

Why do you want to be NT artistic director? What would you do in the job?

After all these years I still don’t know why I am an actor so I couldn’t begin to tell you why I want to be artistic director of the National. When I think about it, it excites me. When I imagine what I will be doing in the future, it seems totally feasible. I believe I have something to bring to the table and I actually want to do the job. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. As to the second part of your question, I believe the National should be of its time and grow with its time so I’d have to see what was happening when I got the job and react accordingly. I hope I’d go in without an agenda and look around me, feel the temperature of the city and try and find out what people really wanted.

What roles would you most like to play still?

I have a burning desire to play Antipholus in The Comedy of Errors. Otherwise, no particular roles though I would love to do some Chekhov.

What’s the last thing you saw on stage that you really enjoyed?

Play Without Words at the National is one of the best things I’ve ever seen on stage, and I know nothing about dance so that’s a testament to how incredibly transcendent it was. Also The Goat, which transferred from the Almeida. Those are my two favourite things recently.

What would you advise would the government to secure the future of British theatre?
I would say that they should come and see some. If they enjoy it, they should fight to keep it; and if they don’t enjoy it, they should ask themselves why not. Lack of funding is a huge problem and people are struggling to do their best under restricted circumstances. More funding is what’s needed.

You were involved with the Push festival of Black-led performing arts this past summer. Why do you think Push is important? What does diversity in the arts mean to you?

I think Push is necessary, full stop. It’s not a judgement call. In this country, it doesn’t matter whether you work in the arts or in the City, diversity needs to be addressed. Everyone should be represented. Things are changing, but it’s hard work. As Josette Bushell-Mingo (artistic director of Push and director of Simply Heavenly) has said in interviews many times before, “I’ll be glad when we don’t need Push anymore.” No one should be excluded. To illustrate what it means to me, I use the analogy that it’s like a party: everybody cooks, everybody eats, everybody washes up and that’s the way it should be. But, at the moment some people are cooking, others are washing up, and that’s wrong. Everyone should contribute and have their place at the table. It’s the responsibility of those who are privileged enough to be in stronger positions to make sure everyone is being looked after, especially those less fortunate.

If you could swap places with one person (living or dead) for a day, who would it be?
I would swap places with an Olympic athlete. One of the few things that makes me cry – besides my wife and daughter – is the Olympic games. It’s the most amazing thing. I’m riveted every time it’s on, and I’ve always wondered what it feels like to dedicate your life to something like that. Every four years to stand up and be counted. I’d want to be all of them, or maybe a shot putter – I’d come last though!

Favourite books
My favourite is Music and Silence by Rose Tremain. Also DBC Pierre’s Vernon God Little – I howled with laughter – and Jazz by Toni Morrison.

Favourite holiday destinations
My favourite I’ve been to so far is Mexico, but I’d love to go to Sri Lanka too.

Favourite after-show haunts
I always make time for going out. I like the Century club on Shaftesbury Avenue. And Joe Allen’s for a burger – my American roots love it there with all the lovely spare ribs and corn bread they have.

Favourite websites
Google is essential because of my research for writing. I’m quite interested in genealogy at the moment because I want that to be one of the themes in my next play, looking at how information is passed on within family. Whenever I look for reviews, I go online and I love Whatsonstage.com, I genuinely do.

Why did you want to accept the part of Jesse B Semple in Simply Heavenly?

I bumped into Paul J Medford, our choreographer, and he said, “Josette and I are doing something next year and we want you to be in it.” So they sent a script through and I thought it was the oddest thing I’d ever read. I kept saying, “I don’t know if I can do this part”, and they said “it is you”. I suppose it’s hard sometimes to know what qualities you bring to a part. I started to do a lot of research, but eventually you have to put books down because don’t want to get bogged down with realism. It’s more important to go with what’s there in the play.

Were you familiar with Langston Hughes before this?

Yes, as a poet, but I had no idea that he’d written a musical. I love his poetry and this show just makes me want to read more of his work. I went to see The History Boys recently – I think some of Alan Bennett’s work has a similar quality for a British audience as Hughes’ does for an American one. They both show real people speaking, and there is beauty in the ‘normal’ voice. It doesn’t have to be high falutin’.

How difficult is it to return to a part after such a long break?
It was really hard because I couldn’t remember a single word, I had to learn all my lines from scratch. The music changed a lot, too – the harmonies and musical arrangement and choreography – and, of course, half the company are different. So all these changes came together to make a show that feels fresh for all of us, which is wonderful.

How different is the show now to when it was at the Young Vic? Are the audiences different?
Trafalgar Studios is a very different space to the Young Vic. We try to create the right temperature to make people believe we’re in a bar in Harlem. I like the fact that here we can see everyone. Backstage is fun because it’s very tight and we’re a big cast. There’s a lot of squeezing in like sardines, but we have good company feeling so that’s fun. I don’t believe that the West End audience is so different. People often try to tailor their work to this mythical audience that doesn’t exist: a West End audience is made up of people from all over the place, different backgrounds. I just want to try and be specific and do my job well so as many people as possible can get as much from the piece as possible. It’s for everyone.

What are your other plans for the future?

I’d like to see my wife at some point. She’s away filming at the moment and, though I love doing the show, I wish she was here as well. Next I’m doing a second series of Bodies for the BBC. It films next year and then I want to have a big fat family holiday with my wife and daughter, Esmé Ruby. A balance of work and play.

– Rhashan Stone was speaking to Hannah Kennedy

Simply Heavenly is now running at the West End’s Trafalgar Studios.