Slave Play author Jeremy O Harris on the future of theatre

Life and Art from FT Weekend

Forhecz Topher

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture

4.6 • 601 Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2020

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, Gris talks to the brilliant 30-year-old playwright Jeremy O Harris about his Broadway sensation Slave Play and his autobiographical "Daddy". This is an interview that will stick with you for a long time. They discuss how black art is re-packaged by white institutions, how black and white audiences respond differently to his work, and how to make theatre more accessible — both for quarantine and for younger audiences (Harris is also an executive producer on Euphoria). Plus: a special appearance from Phoebe Waller-Bridge!

As always, we want to hear from you. This week, we'd love to know what gems the Netflix algorithm is hiding from us. What are you streaming that we should be watching? We'll publish your list! Fill out our short form at ft.com/culturecallout, or email us at [email protected]. f you want to get social, we're on Twitter @FTCultureCall and Instagram at @griseldamurraybrown and @lilahrap.

Links and notes from the episode:

–A special gift from us to you: sign up to the FT's Coronavirus Business Update newsletter and get free access to our journalism for 30 days! https://www.ft.com/newsletter-signup/coronavirus?segmentId=0d92d58c-2c7d-178e-6aa8-81529dd53b1b

–The recipe for kuku sabzi, a delicious Persian frittata: https://youtu.be/OJFoIfzY7eI

–A great piece about Jenny Odell's How To Do Nothing: https://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-jenny-odell-interview-how-nothing-20190509-story.html

–Wesley Morris on ESPN's The Last Dance https://www.nytimes.com/article/the-last-dance-jordan.html

–(More Wesley Morris content) Still Processing dissects Tiger King: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/podcasts/still-processing-tiger-king.html

–FT review of Becoming on Netflix (paywall): https://www.ft.com/content/e46b7582-8df7-11ea-a8ec-961a33ba80aa

–Aisha Harris' review of Slave Play: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/opinion/slave-play-broadway.html

–Slave Play's set designer on the choice behind the onstage mirror: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/rihanna-mirrors-and-america-processing-slave-plays-set-design

–Genre defying women that Jeremy mentioned: Aphra Behn, Caryl Churchill, Suzan-Lori Parks

–Jeremy's recommendation of Perfect Blue by Satochi Kon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_Blue

–Jeremy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyoharris

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, you're listening to Culture Call, a transatlantic conversation from the Financial Times.
0:11.3	I'm Griselda Murray Brown in London. And I'm Lila Raptopoulos in New York.
0:16.5	Coming up on today's episode.
0:20.1	One of the major rewrites to the play happened two days before press night. I have a really good friend, he saw the play, and he was like, everything in the play felt super honest until this one moment. He said that, and like, it kind of annoyed me and hurt my feelings. And then I was sat with it and I was like, oh, it hurts your feelings because you know he's right. And I went and I re-wrote the entire section, sent it to the cast, and we put it on its feet that night.
0:43.2	Today's guest is the inimitable playwright, Jeremy O'Harris.
0:47.1	Yeah, Jeremy O'Harris is definitely the next big thing.
0:50.8	Or maybe even the now big thing.
0:53.2	The current big thing. The current big thing would be
0:56.2	better English. Jeremy wrote slave play, which you saw Lila and which had this amazing
1:03.2	sold-out run on Broadway last year. It was a huge phenomenon. He had another play on a New York
1:09.4	called Daddy, which was set to open at the Armada Theatre here in London soon after I spoke to him in March, but of course has been delayed along with everything else.
1:18.6	But it's not just theatre that he does.
1:21.0	He has written a film which should be coming out later this year called Zola.
1:25.1	He's a co-producer on Series two of Euphoria on TV. And he
1:30.3	has also struck this amazing sounding two-year deal with HBO, which we can talk about a bit later.
1:36.3	But he's basically the person everyone wants to work with right now, I think. Yeah, we're so excited
1:41.6	to have him on the show.
1:49.2	Lila, how are you today?
1:50.9	I'm good, Chris.
1:51.5	Thank you.
1:52.9	It's been a nice day, actually.
1:53.5	How about you?
	...

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