This important drama musical maps the story of Vanriel who spent 13 years in Jamaica after he was refused entry back into Britain when trying to return home from a two year stay to see his daughter. On The Ropes star Mensah Bediako, Ashley D Gayle and Amber James at the Park Theatre. In this 140 minute long play which includes a 20 minute interval. Vanriel’s successes as a boxer see him raise to the top but in the second half we see him battle with the home office, drugs and his mental health.
Director Anastasia Osei-Kuffour‘s On The Ropes manages to produce an entertaining piece of theatre as the cast deliver fine performances and show of their impressive vocals and dance hall skills, asking Amber about the singing she points out, “… that it was kind of a terrifying prospect at the beginning. Also just to be three of you. So we’re doing three part harmonies which is fine usually if there’s 20 people on each part”. On the Ropes is co-written by Vernon Vanriel amd Dougie Blaxland. The play is told in 12 rounds with some of the ‘Titan of Tottenham’s’ favourite tracks from the 70s and 80s like Young, Gifted and Black, I Can See Clearly Now and Ooh La La (Let’s Go Dancing). Which further drives the piece and adds lighter tones to what in fact is a harrowing story. (The Guardian piece about Vernon).
“I think anyone who is a descendant of the Windrush generation, anyone who’s got Caribbean parents or grandparents, you know, we’re so proud. Well, I certainly am, I’m so proud of that connection. my grandparents came over in the sixties as part of the Windrush generation. My dad was then born here in Greenwich. My grandparents had three children. He was the first to be born in this country”. Amber James
ALT A:
So what made you think, right, this is something I’m going to do I am going to become an actor?
Amber:
I have always kind of enjoyed acting since I was young, since I was really small and when I got to about16, I thought I was just done with formal education in terms of sitting at a desk and I wanted to kind of follow acting. So I went to college and did it for two years. And then I learned about drama schools, which I didn’t know anything about. So auditioned for the main drama schools within London. And was lucky enough to get a place and then studied there. I studied at Guildhall drama school which is in the city. I did three years and then that was, that was it. I’ve been working professionally since 2015, I graduated.
ALT A:
What do you like most about this job? Because most people think, oh my gosh, you are on stage It’s so glamorous and don’t really call it a job ?
Amber:
Hardly !!
ALT A:
<laugh>.
Amber:
What I like most about, oh God probably, to be honest, two things. A, the people you meet some incredible people that are really like, sort of kindred spirits, especially a lot of actors or a lot of creatives, you, you’ve often felt a bit of an outsider or not really understood, or that you feel like you don’t quite fit in. And you are working with loads of people who feel exactly the same <laugh>, and so you can be best friends with an 80 year old man, as well as, you know, a 19 year old girl straight out of drama school. So I really love that. B, the stories, when you find a story that is really important and you feel a connection to character and their journey, it’s really inspiring and makes you want to sort of do justice to it really. So that’s always, that gives me the fire in my belly.
ALT A:
Would you say that’s probably how you look at scripts is a story that you want to tell?
Amber:
Yes. A story that I want to tell and a person that I feel I can bring something to, that I can bring a truth out in who they are and how they look at the world. Yeah, so if I feel like a connection to a character or that the character itself inspires me, that I want to kind of reach them in a way. So that’s what I’m always looking for.
ALT A:
To date, what would you say has been your like standout job. One of the jobs that you’ve would say, wow, that was so memorable for me?
Amber:
Oh God, there’s been a few. I’d say one of the most special ones was, a couple of years ago I did a production of a Midsummer Night’s Dream. And we did that at Regents Park Open Air, which was kind of ridiculously special because it’s rare that you’ll do a play set in a forest, in a forest. So we did it under the stars with the moonlight and it was just incredibly magical. I really kind of I think it pushed me as an actor. I learned so much and that was a very, very special job, I would say that. And this one
© Jane Hobson (2019)
ALT A:
<laugh> <laugh>. And that’s actually where I thought I recognized you from. I went to the press night for that actually. I do remember that. And it was kind a retelling of a Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was really bright and colorful.
Amber:
Yeah!
ALT A:
That’s what I remember about it. <laugh>
Amber:
I think it was 2018 or 2019.
ALT A:
Yeah, I think, I think so. Definitely. That’s where I remembered you from, but I couldn’t quite place it.
Amber:
Yeah, yeah.
ALT A:
Saying that you have done a bit of television also?
Amber:
Just before this job I finished an episode of Grace, which was on ITV which is a detective drama. So most of my TV work has kind of happened in the last, I’d say probably four-ish years, which is when I started getting into acting and really enjoying it as well. So it’s definitely something I’d like to do more of. I think I’ll always end up coming back to the theatre one way or another each year, but TV especially, there’s some really wicked stuff happening, so it’s really nice to be reading scripts and to be finding what your place could be within that industry as well.
ALT A:
We mentioned stories, so let’s talk about On the Ropes it deals with an important subject matter which everyone’s talking about one might assume someone of your generation, would not be that well versed on the Windrush generation. So what does that mean to you, that story how do you digest it ?
Amber:
Well I think I was very aware of it. I think anyone who is a descendant of the Windrush generation, anyone who’s got Caribbean parents or grandparents, you know, we’re so proud. Well, I certainly am, I’m so proud of that connection. my grandparents came over in the sixties as part of the #Windrush generation. My dad was then born here in Greenwich. My grandparents had ,three children. He was the first to be born in this country. But the others, my uncle and aunt, they were born in St. Lucia and arrived here as children with one little suitcase and then became soldiers, worked for the council. My dad’s worked for TFL since he was 20 something years old. And so, you know, the kind of the work and what that generation brought to this country, is evident every time you step out your door. So I feel incredibly proud to be a descendant of those people and so I wanted to do something to make them proud. then in terms of the scandal that we were all so enraged in, that was on my radar kind of immediately. Vernon, not so much I knew about the amount of people, but specifically Vernon, I wasn’t aware of until I read this script. So I’m so glad that we are bringing his name into the limelight as it were, as he deserves.
ALT A:
Can you tell us a little bit about the backstory of Vernon and, what one can expect who hasn’t actually seen the play?
Amber:
Vernon was a Black British boxer who rose to prominence in the seventies and eighties in this country. He did so much for his community, he made tickets cheaper so that the Black community could afford to come and watch him box. He brought music to the ring, and just rose incredibly quickly to kind of the top of that world. He had a gorgeous family. I think he arrived here when he was six and lived here for 43 years. And so we meet him kind of in the beginning of his life and you see him rise throughout his prime, and the play is full of the music that Vernon himself loves. And you meet all the people that have been influential to him and then he wanted to go to Jamaica to visit family early 2000’s. So he went over, ended up being there for about two years, then wanted to come home and he was stopped and he was barred from coming home. So you watched that journey of 13 years of fighting to be declared a British citizen and to feel like he belongs here and his journey to get back to his home. So you see all the ups and downs of that journey.
ALT A:
You play numerous characters, and I must say brilliantly. <laugh>. Tell us how as an actor you, actually approach that?
Amber:
Ashley D Gayle, and I who plays the other chorus member, I think in all, well each of us play just under 30 characters. Ash might play a bit more. and what was important for me was A, how they speak, and then B how they move and finding those kind of subtle differences that you can shift into. A looking at how does Vernon see those people, what is the truth of them because of course we’re all on Vernon’s side, right? So it’s very easy to want to play any kind of government official as this kind of abrasive thing but of course they don’t see themselves as that. So it’s trying not to judge each character and finding the truth of them was important to me. And then I was wanting to kind of find a nuance that so we sort of slid into each character, and finding little shifts in body movement, little shifts in voice, which tells the audience, that we’ve changed scene, but yes, it’s a very exciting challenge, not one I’ve had before. So yes, it’s been an interesting journey.
ALT A:
And what’s it like singing on, on stage <laugh>?
Amber:
Oh God! Usually when I’ve sung in plays before, it’s usually as part of an ensemble work or choir work. So this is the first time really that I’ve sung on my own a in moments on stage. So that was kind of terrifying prospect at the beginning. Also just to be three of you. So we’re doing three part harmonies, which is fine usually if there’s 20 people on each part, but this time it’s just us. So it was nerve wracking, but the more and more that we sing it and the more that you sort of relax into it, the harmonies just come. And also I think especially with there’s a gospel song that I sing that I absolutely love the song anyway. So anytime that there’s a piece of music that I enjoy that weirdly makes me relax more just to sing it with hopefully a nice bit of passion.
ALT A:
What would you say are some of the challenges to a three-hander and playing so many role?
Amber:
I would say the challenge is, well this is a massive script. It’s huge. And so it’s quite an undertaking for just three of you. So usually if you’re reading a script of this size, you’ve got your scenes, and you, you know, the arc of the story, but you know that you are coming on to do one bit. You might go off stage, you might come back on. Whereas we are on all the time and each of us is on every single of I think like 115 pages. So just in terms of learning that amount of text and knowing where you are just between the three of you was a real feat for us. Um, and something I’ve not quite done before in terms of the amount of balance between each of us. Like we’re all pretty much, although of course Mensah plays Vernon beautifully and has the kind of the main story arc, Ash and I are with him pretty much throughout. So yeah, it was a big undertaking. Big, big undertaking.
ALT A:
What was it like working with the Director bringing her ideas to life?
Amber:
I think what helped was Anastasia had quite a clear vision, straight away of what she wanted to create because this is one of those plays where often when you get a script you can sort of in your mind’s eye see a version of it, you know, sort of very blurrily. And then you get in the room and then you find out what that is. But with this show, it was so unlike anything I’d done before, I was walking in like, how are we gonna do this? But Anastasia knew, and had a real confidence about it, which was lovely to come in and say okay, okay, right we’re in, we’re in good hands and safe hands. So she was very, she had a real positivity about her, about us being able to do it no matter how big the mountain seemed. She kept us feeling good and playful, um, as we made our way through. So yeah, it was a lovely, lovely experience.
ALT A:
What are you working on next?
Amber:
Well, it’s not been announced yet, but I’m about to do a Shakespeare production which I’m really looking forward to. I can’t tell you which one yet. <laugh>. Yeah, so I start rehearsals for that about three weeks after On the Ropes closes. So yeah, that’s my next project, another theatre show. , With a big cast. So that’s gonna be fun.
ALT A:
Wonderful. Amber, thank you so much for talking to ALT A REVIEW.
Amber will soon be seen in the feature film Reawakening by Virginia Gilbert, starring Jared Harris.
“Pulsating with the rhythmic energies of blues, reggae and boxing, On the Ropes is an uplifting musical drama telling the extraordinary story of Vernon Vanriel who arrived in Britain aged 6 with his family as part of the Windrush Generation, and rose to prominence as one of the most charismatic and influential Black British boxers of the 70s and 80s”.
On the Ropes runs until 4 FEB BOOK HERE
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