Pride and prejudice
For once, it’s not about race but sexuality, say actor Lennie James and author Bernardine Evaristo as they bring her novel Mr Loverman to life
Ray Burmiston
- Sherna Noah
Add Mr Loverman to your watchlist
Ad
Six years before she was catapulted into the limelight as joint winner (along with Margaret Atwood) of the Booker Prize for her novel Girl, Woman, Other, writer Bernardine Evaristo released Mr Loverman.
The ground-breaking novel explores the secret, decades-long love afair between Barrington, a successful – and married – Caribbean-born Londoner and his best friend Morris. In his 70s and with his marriage on the rocks, Barrington wants to end the pretence.
Now adapted into an eight-part BBC drama, the sad but funny story – exploring sexuality, love, fear, religion and family – stars Lennie James as Barrington, Sharon D Clarke as his wife and Ariyon Bakare as Morris.
Want to see this content?
This page contains content provided by YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as YouTube may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow YouTube and its required purposes.
Accept and continue
BREATHING LIFE INTO BARRINGTON
Bernardine I was a creative writing mentor on a workshop and one of the exercises led by a fellow mentor, who was a playwright, involved passport photographs of all kinds of people laid out on a table. She said, “I want you to pick one and write in the voice of that character and imagine that they’re taking their clothes off in front of a mirror.” I started writing Barrington as part of that exercise. I wasn’t intending to write a novel but he jumped inside me. He was a joy to write. It feels like he wrote himself: “This is what’s going to happen now…”
Lennie He’s a very unique version of what’s typically written about West Indian men of that generation. I have no particular problem with stories told about the early days of what we now refer to as the Windrush Generation, but I love that this is not a “No blacks, no Irish, no dogs” story. I love that this tells the story of an outwardly successful black man who is erudite, well-read and successful.
Lennie James in Mr Loverman. BBC
Bernardine Yes, when I told people that the novel’s about an older black gay man, a lot of people assumed that he would be impoverished, a victim of racism in a more stereotypical way, and that this would be a story of suffering. But the issue for Barrington is not really race or poverty – it’s his sexuality. People have an idea of the Windrush Generation and the hardships of their early life, but then they have to imagine what their later life is like because we don’t see many stories about that older generation.
Lennie For a long time we’ve had to write stories that the people who make decisions understand, even when we’re trying to tell stories about ourselves and our community. I hope this encourages people to write the stories they want to write, and that it encourages the people who make decisions about [commissioning TV dramas] to understand that different stories can be told, and that everything doesn’t have to be issuebased when involving people who look like me. Barrington is a truly complicated, complex and interesting character. It’s very rare that you play a character who is more complicated than you are. He’s also huge fun to play. He gave me license to run riot. I don’t want to play someone I could do standing on my head, juggling. I get to play him between his 40s until his 70s, which is a gift for an actor. Although I was in make-up for close to two hours every morning!
Bernardine Evaristo with Lennie James. Ray Burmiston
CASTING CONUNDRUMS
Bernardine I know this is probably a controversial thing to say, but I think roles should go to the best actor for the part. From my position as the writer of the book, I want it to go to the person who can play the part and it’s not important whether they’re homosexual or not.
Lennie I think it’s a conversation that we need to have, but as an actor I don’t believe in blanket bans. It was the first question I asked when I sat down with the people from [production company] Fable. “Are you sure you want it to be me?” It’s not something that I’m going to spend a huge amount of time justifying. There are lots of reasons why this version of Barrington was told, in this way. There are, I imagine, certain things I bring to this character that bring him to life. I know it’s going to be an ongoing conversation. But if I felt I was doing a disservice, I would have ruled myself out. This is a character that any actor who could qualify would do his damnedest to play. And that’s what I did.
Ariyon Bakare and Lennie James as Morris and Barrington in Mr Loverman. BBC
FACING UP TO PREJUDICE
Bernardine I like writing about difficult things: bigotry, people in crisis… For the viewer to go through all the moments of homophobia – and internal homophobia – with Barrington is what makes the drama. Did I experience homophobia? I wore the badge, went to the clubs, went on the marches. I was very “out and proud” to use the cliché. I know lesbians who did experience homophobia in a very overt way, but for me it was more that I knew the limitations of how I could, for example, express affection to a woman in public. It was a very homophobic society 40 years ago. It was a very different culture. But the point of writing fiction – and screen drama – is that people overcome obstacles. That’s what makes them interesting; that’s how they grow. Which is why in Mr Loverman, Barrington goes cottaging in a cemetery and is beaten up.
Lennie In those moments, where I have to find Barrington’s inner journey… I’ve been in situations where I’ve been surrounded by people who hate me for my race. I grew up in the late 1970s and early 80s, with the National Front, and was part of the Anti-Nazi League. I’ve been chased down the road and had to stand my ground and fight to get out of situations. That fear, that hatred, what that does to you, what that makes you feel about yourself, about who you are and how it restricts you, is something I channelled in those moments. Because it’s different, but similar. The fear was palpable. It was almost like there was no acting required.
Family is just as strong in my work as race and sexuality
Bernadine Evaristo
NO SHYING AWAY FROM SEX SCENES
Bernardine When we were discussing the script, I said to the team behind it, “We need to see the physical reality of these two men having sex. Nothing ambiguous.” It was important that it shouldn’t be something that’s hidden, something to be ashamed of. Then, when I started to watch it, I was shocked. I was like, “Are they really going to do that?” And then I was like, “Bernardine, you wrote it [the novel], and you said to them, ‘Put it in’.” And they did! I wanted people to see their physical relationship, to see them having sex, because it was really important to me that it shouldn’t be something that is hidden, to be ashamed of, because it’s taboo.
Lennie For a large chunk of this, we’re telling the story of a love affair between black senior citizens. While telling the outward love story, we’re also telling the physical love story between these two men: how they made love at 40 and how that lovemaking is different at 70. That was important. If you’re not telling the story or revealing something about the character through those intimate scenes, there’s no point having them. It’s like a song in a musical. It’s got to move the story along, otherwise it’s pointless. There wasn’t anything gratuitous. And we had an intimacy coordinator who kept us true to the story. We learned a lot. There were also moments that you weren’t necessarily aware would be intimate or exposing because they weren’t sexual and Robbie [the intimacy coordinator] would say, “Do you feel comfortable in this situation?” There’s a sequence when Barry’s in the bath and I was physically exposed [before filming and getting in], that I wasn’t aware of in the beginning. Robbie facilitated the conversation, “It’s very cold. It’s very exposing. Could we get there sooner, so that we cut down the amount of time Lennie is exposed?” It’s things like that. Thank God he was there!
The cast of Mr Loverman. BBC
TALKING OF GOD…
Bernardine I grew up in the Catholic Church and at 15, I escaped. Until then I went to church every Saturday and my first school was a convent school. We had mass every weekday. I can be very critical of organised religion. I think there is some exposing of the hypocrisy of Christianity in the book, but it’s just a little dig. My mum was pregnant for ten years, pretty much. I grew up in a big, busy household [Evaristo is the fourth of eight siblings]. But that childhood – which was Catholic and socialist and with a dual heritage in the white area of Woolwich in south London – shaped me. Family is a strong theme in my work. It’s often something that people don’t pick up, because they’re looking at race, gender and sexuality.
Ad
Lennie I also grew up in the church – in the Pentecostal Church, which is very West Indian – for a large chunk of my childhood. I used to go four times a week, twice on Sundays. I lived at home until I was about 11, and then my brother and I lost my mum. We went into a kids’ home, and I was fostered at 15. That family has been my family ever since. I had kids quite young and they’ve always been at the centre of everything I do. They give me reason. I’m proud of my career, but family is much more crucial to me.
Authors
Sherna Noah
Ad
Ad
Subscribe for £1 per week
Too much to watch this autumn? Let Radio Times magazine and app do the choosing, with expert picks across TV, streaming and film.
Loading...
Ad
Loading...