Kiri: Interview with Lucian Msamati who plays Tobi

19 December 2017

Your new drama is Kiri – could you explain a little bit about the show and who you play?

Kiri revolves around the events surrounding three main characters. Their lives are depicted in a very interesting way around the title character, a 9 year old little girl Kiri, and the affect she has on all their lives. I play Tobi, her birth grandfather, though she is being fostered and due to be adopted by another family, The Warners.

He’s a complex character. Is it fair to say there’s more to him than meets the eye?

I think that is a fair assessment of who he is. He seems, and is on the surface, a very upstanding and upright and presentable character. But there is a lot underneath all of that. It is quite shocking to play and I think, as the story unfolds, the audience will find the self-same thing.

I imagine that’s the most satisfying kind of character to play.

Oh yes, absolutely. Peel that onion, reveal the stinking heart!

Aside from Tobi being a really interesting character to play, what attracted you to the project?

Well, I think the writing of Jack Thorne is amazing. I think Euros Lyn as a director is amazing. And, on top of all of that, it’s a wonderful cast of actors: Sarah Lancashire, Lia Williams, Andi Osho, Paapa Essiedu, Wunmi Mosaku, it’s a fantastic, fantastic team. When the superstars are lined up, you don’t think twice, you dive in and enjoy it. But I think all of us appreciated that the quality of the story was such that not only is it a great drama, but it’s very much a story of our time. I think that is also important to be a part of.

As a playwright yourself, what can you say about Jack Thorne’s writing? Were you a fan before this?

I was, actually. This is my first interaction with his work as a performer, and I think his ability to weave truth into all sorts of quite mundane corners of human life in an interesting and attractive and funny and truthful way is extraordinary. He also has the ability to make every single character three-dimensional, which I think is particularly important when characters of colour are presented onscreen. I felt like he really went out of his way to create a character of colour but who is still completely flawed and human, and believable.

Does it give you a new appreciation of a writer’s talent when you’re actually performing their work?

I can tell you that, for myself, if I’m able to leave my writer’s brain or my director’s brain or my producer’s brain outside of the room, and simply engage with it as an actor, it means that it’s quality. I think that’s the biggest compliment I could pay Jack.

Did you do anything in the way of research for this, or was it all there on the page in front of you?

There was obviously some interesting context behind the particular situations of the characters, but I was keen not to get too bogged down in researching it. I think, in terms of the story, where Tobi starts, he’s not particularly clear as to where he stands, so being over-informed sometimes, as an actor, trips up the journey of the character. I did not want my brain to get in the way of Tobi’s struggle.

Tobi is quite a bit older than you. Did that bring interesting challenges to you?

[Laughs] What are you saying?

I’m saying that in reality, you are an extremely youthful figure!

[Laughs] No, actually, that wasn’t an issue at all. I think Tobi is maybe a decade or so older than I am, but I would call him a contemporary of mine, and I suppose, if anything, I was just able to appreciate the path he had had to walk to get to that place in the story. That allows you to bring a little more compassion and a lot less judgement to the mistakes of his past, remembering the challenges he has had to overcome.

Are you going to be rocking the zip-up cardigan look from now on?

[Laughs] That’s going to be the look for winter 2018.

You mentioned the show’s cast – how did you find working with Sarah Lancashire?

Again, the greatest compliment that I could ever pay to any performer is to say that the hardest thing that I had to do was to show up on a working day. You can let the great and the good just do the rest. That’s what it felt like. It’s a privilege to wake up and be present on a production like this.

What’s the atmosphere like on set, when you’re filming something like this? Is it very sombre and serious, or do you have to try and keep it light, to combat the subject matter?

Well, that’s interesting. One of the really good qualities of the director of this is that he’s able to identify when the performers need space. There was never any pressure on us. There was no ticking clock. We were given space and time outside of the scene itself. And we were surrounded by a very fine team, who also just gave us our space. And they didn’t let the atmosphere of scenes affect them too much.

Can you switch off at the end of the day, and go home and relax?

It takes me a while. I’m getting better at it.