““Adam is the character I wanted to see growing up.” ”
Olisa Odele (Big Boys, It’s a Sin) and Jordan Kouamé (Malpractice) will star in There’s Something About Adam Black, the debut play from Sex Education and EastEnders writer Troy Hunter. Olisa plays Adam and Jordan plays Daniel, and Tatenda Shamiso (Blood of My Blood, Eat the Rich (but maybe not me mates x) directs.
No one knows their way around Grindr like Adam Black. There’s a new man every night, and he has absolutely no interest in a relationship. Then he meets Daniel, a poet from Yorkshire who has no idea what he’s walked into. Because Adam has a past, and it’s done waiting.
We caught up with Troy and Tatenda ahead of the cast annoucement.
Troy Hunter, writer
This is your theatre debut after writing for Sex Education and EastEnders. What can you say on stage that you couldn’t on screen?
“Everything, if you’re Adam! He doesn’t hold back with the audience. He tells them everything… With theatre you have that live, raw response to the play. It’s amazing to hear and feel how your work is being received in the moment. Then afterwards in the bar there’s that (sometimes heated) discussion, which I’m always eavesdropping on!”
The title promises there’s something about Adam Black. Without spoilers, what is it?
“Adam’s a complex guy; he’s spent a lot of his life using Grindr to connect without having to be fully vulnerable. Meeting Daniel changes that. Daniel encourages him not [to] be scared of feeling his emotions. Sorry, I’ve already said too much!”
For many Black queer men, queer spaces are where you find yourself: the funny, the messy, sometimes the painful! Some of the audience will see themselves in Adam, and some will be stepping into this world for the first time. What do you want both to leave understanding?
“I’m more interested in what [the] audience’s responses are: what discussions arise in the bar, on the train home! For people who relate to Adam, I want them to be encouraged to be compassionate towards themselves, and for people to see people like Adam as human, with complex emotions.”
Time Out calls The Yard London’s coolest theatre, and you’re opening straight after Ian McKellen’s Lear! How does that feel? And why does Adam’s story belong on that stage right now?
“Everything about The Yard is cool… They take chances on new voices, and they’re a natural place for queer stories. I’m usually riddled with nerves, especially following on from Ian McKellen’s Lear, but the closer I get to rehearsals, the more excited I feel. It’s finally happening!!”
Tatenda Shamiso, director
You’ve said this show is quite the departure from your latest, Blood of My Blood. What drew you to Troy’s script, and what did it ask of you as a director that you hadn’t done before?
“There’s a common thread between what drew me to Blood of My Blood and what drew me to There’s Something About Adam Black: they both offer knotty, nuanced, funny and deeply human contributions to genres that could use a little shaking up. Troy’s brilliant text sets up a world that initially feels very familiar within the queer canon, and then pulls the rug out from under us… It’s asking me to look at intimacy through many different lenses, to lean into my cheekiness, and it’ll be my first two-hander!”
You’ve described the play as wacky, tender, a little bit scary and a little bit raunchy. How do you hold all of that in one show without it tipping over?
“Troy engineers the shifts between comedy, tragedy, romance and, like, psychological thriller, with a feather-light touch. As long as we match what the text asks for, we’re gonna stay upright!”
Adam meets a new guy, and a new Grindr handle, every night. If this production had a Grindr username, what would it be?
“THIS IS HARD! It needs to be a lil mysterious, a lil dirty, funny and a bit tragic. Perhaps it’s HorseHungHeartbroken. HA!”