Nitro

To continue with our series of interviews with writers for Nitro, we caught up with one of the UK’s leading playwrights’, Rex Obano, as he tells us about his current project, ‘Starstruck’!

Regular readers will know ‘Starstruck’ was written by Roy Williams and was a hit play in the late 90s. Rex is now currently adapting the smash hit play into a modern musical for us that we’re sure will raise the roof on many a house.

We’re very excited to be commissioning Starstruck – The Musical, not only because Starstruck is a great story but also because Rex is the most promising and sought after of black writers. Many of you will know Rex is one of a team of writers for the children’s smash TV show ‘Rastamouse’. Rastamouse has received praise and attention throughout the UK’s press and, of course the kids (and adults like us) that watched it.

Rex is very busy working on the script, as well as working on his many other projects, but he was kind enough to lend us some time to answer a few questions from us.

We’re very much looking forward to your adaption of Roy Williams’ ‘Starstruck’ into a musical for us. What stage are you currently at and how’s it going?

I am currently finishing off the first draft.  Most of the work has already been completed as me and Felix started off with a treatment of the adaptation.  Felix Cross is writing the music and lyrics and I am doing the book.  I used that treatment as a guide to completing the first draft, but there is a long way to go.

It’s not finished yet but can you tell us how different it will be compared to the original play?

I was unfortunate not to see the original play and when I read it I thought was an amazing piece of work, both funny and dark and uniquely Jamaican.  We took the decision to update the play as the original play was set in the 1970’s.  We are adapting the play to a musical so some of the themes and complexities of the narrative have been adapted and the ending has been modified, but I hope we have kept to the spirit of the play.

Starstruck was well received as a play. Does that put added pressure on you as the writer of the new adaption?

No, not really.  Or no more pressure than usual with any other piece of work.  I wouldn’t have taken it on unless I thought it could be the best that it could be.  The challenge is if a new audience think that it is an original musical and not derived from a play.  Only then will I think that Felix and I have done our job.

Starstruck will be the first musical you’ve worked on. What made you interested in working on a musical and this project in particular?

I have been lucky enough in the last year to try my hand at various modes of writing. Since my first full length play Slaves I have written for radio Burned to Nothing (BBC Afternoon Play), young peoples theatre The Door Never Closes (Almeida Theatre) and children’s television with Rastamouse (CBeebies) so working on a musical is yet another challenge that I am eager to embrace.  The feeling of leaving a musical is much different than from a straight play.  The challenge will be if the audience are engaged in the story and the music to hum the songs on their way home.

Is the process you go through working on a play different from working on a musical?

Yes, the way that I describe it is that the songs in the musical carry emotion and the book carries the meaning and those have be kept constant in the narrative.  Also a challenge is if the songs push the narrative forward or just act to tell how the characters are feeling.  You don’t have to worry about this in a straight play.  I’m sure that this experience will help my playwriting.

As you mentioned, You also wrote for the smash hit kids TV show Rastamouse. Have you been surprised by its success and the positive and negative reactions to it?

When I was commissioned to write Rastamouse last year I had never written for television or for children so it was a challenge, but one I relished.  Of course you never know what the response from the audience is going to be, but I knew there was something about it that would appeal to young children.  I have been surprised about the reaction as very few children’s shows have national press attention, but most of all my young nieces and nephews have enjoyed it.

How did you get started as a playwright?

I started as a writer and fell into a fifteen year acting career, but now I am lucky enough to be doing more writing.  My acting helped my with my storytelling and the connections I made with actors and directors helped me early in my writing career.

What were the biggest hurdles you had to overcome to get to your position today?

The biggest hurdles are getting a play on and being taken seriously as an older writer.  Most theatre companies are interested in new writers and there is nothing wrong with that, but I think some of the most interesting stories come from an older writer’s perspective.  Sometimes it can take years for a writer to find their voice and an older voice has just as much of a right to be heard.  Getting your first play on is very difficult and I would advise emerging playwrights to join writers groups with theatre companies.  I was helped in my career by Talawa, Royal Court, Soho Theatre and Theatre 503.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

I would give the same advice that was given to me by a very dear friend of mine.  She told me to be prolific.  Write as much as you can.  Don’t let anybody tell you to stop writing.  The more you write the better you will get at your craft.

Finally, describe yourself in one sentence.

I am a Native Foreigner – oh that’s the title of my next play.

Interview by Debo Adebayo