Rising stars Raphael Akuwudike and Joshua Asaré speak about their portrayal of Beautiful Thing’s much-loved characters Jamie and Ste, and the play’s enduring impact
is now, inevitably, a period piece – it’s set in the pre-internet era and the boys don’t have mobile phones – it remains all too relevant. “We were in rehearsals when we heard that two [queer] men had been,” Simpson-Pike notes sadly. “And actually, a lot of the arguments that were around at the time of Section 28, which were [rooted in] a sort of moral panic around HIV-Aids, are now being refashioned and used against the trans community.
Simpson-Pike’s revival also strikes a blow for representation by telling this iconic and historically white story through a Black queer lens. Rising starswere originally cast as Ste and Jamie, but sadly Asaré has now had to withdraw due to personal circumstances. From September 13, Jamie will be played by Rilwan Abiola Owokoniran, who recently won the Ian Charleson Award recognising the UK’s best performance by an actor under 30 in a classical role for his turn as Algernon in.
“I hope that Black queers and queers of colour are able to see themselves reflected on stage in a seminal piece of queer work that actually has a happy ending,” says Simpson-Pike. “And that is somehow still a very radical thing, because in art, queer characters are nearly always being killed off or given some kind of traumatic ending.”
Here, shortly before Asaré left the production, he and Akuwudike spoke about their portrayal of these much-loved characters and the play’s enduring impact.Photographer by TheThere are so many similarities between me and Jamie, it’s actually just weird. Like, we’re both from council estates [and] raised by single mothers. The relationship between Jamie and Sandra is very similar to the relationship I have with my mum. Like, we’re close, but maybe a bit too close, so friction can happen.
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