Talking to The Talking Drum: Voices from the Andover Estate

Created from three years of interviews with residents of the Andover Estate, this powerful verbatim play brings together more than 50 years of lived experience to offer what the creative team describe as "a counter-narrative to decades of negative media portrayal" of the estate. Through real voices and interwoven stories, the production explores community, identity and belonging, while challenging assumptions about class and the people who call the Andover Estate home. We spoke Professor John Gabriel and Gulsler Rose Kaya from London Metropolitan University, who conducted the original interviews, and playwright Tony Graham who adapted them into the show.

How did the show come about?

TONY: The idea for a show came about when I heard John Gabriel giving a short presentation about the oral history interviews from the Andover Estate. I asked John whether he thought the interviews could be presented in a theatrical form. He was very positive about the idea. It took off from there.

JOHN & ROSE: It began as an oral history project “Life on the Andover estate’ funded by Islington council and led by a research team from London Metropolitan University. The Director/writer, Tony Graham, was in the audience at a talk about the project and asked to read some of the interview transcripts.

What were the biggest challenges in transforming testimonies into a theatre production, and how did you go about selecting which stories were told?

TONY: The biggest challenge has been to be faithful to the interviews while creating a shape-in-performance in order to become entertaining and challenging for a theatre audience. Out of over 40 interviews, we whittled it down to six main characters. They stood out for different reasons. Each had a fascinating story to tell. I wanted it to be less like a documentary and more of a human drama with poetry, revelation and humour. But only using their original words and language.

The play has been a collaboration between a playwright, a venue, a research team and the residents of an estate, how has that partnership worked?

TONY: The main goal has been to hold onto the core purpose of the interviews: to offer a platform to the unheard. So we each try to manage our respective disciplines while being true to and involving the residents themselves. It continues in this vein right up to the performance.

JOHN & ROSE: In the main, very well. It was fascinating to be involved in the entire process from transcript to performance. It was also wonderful to see residents meet the actors and theatre professionals and contribute to discussions. Of course, there are inevitable tensions with such diverse partners, each with their own interests.

Was there a particular story or moment during the research process or the creation process that stayed with you or changed your perspective?

TONY: There is more than one moment that has stopped me in my tracks. What is a ballet dancer from the New York-based Alvin Ailey dance company doing on the estate? What’s it really like to be a boy from the estate in a middle-class university? And I’m constantly reminded of the beauty and poetry of everyday speech. Stereotypes and caricatures have been blown away at every moment in this process. The truth is so much more complicated and fascinating. And, as one of the residents points out, there’s never just one truth.

A central theme of the play is challenging stereotypes about housing estates and their communities. What conversations do you hope audiences are having as they leave the theatre?

JOHN & ROSE: These will be different for different groups but hopefully the play will challenge some of the commonly held assumptions about estates like the Andover, will recognise the diversity of the estate but also the challenges faced by residents and the need to address these through more resources and greater community involvement in decision making

What message do you hope audiences take away from The Talking Drum?

TONY: I’m not someone who believes that theatre should teach you anything. Art has to be about more than messages. What I’d like is for audiences to be surprised, amused and provoked. To leave the theatre differently from how they came in. To see the Andover residents in all their humanity: as complicated, inconsistent and unpredictable as we can all be.

JOHN & ROSE: The importance of listening to residents is the most important message. Too many policy makers, political parties, media spokespeople, make assumptions about residents and decide what’s best for them.

The Talking Drum: Voices from the Andover Estate will be showing at the Park Theatre from 19-29 August, tickets at https://parktheatre.co.uk/events/the-talking-drum-voices-from-the-andover-estate/