Clint Dyer on the Bob Marley Musical: ‘Theatre needs minorities to tell their own stories’

I am writing this - this being my seventh attempt to write something intelligent, heartfelt and wise but always coming off like a third-rate Akala at best, and at worst a dyslexic, meagrely educated, and now flush-faced arty type, with nothing to moan about because he’d finally got lucky - which I guess I am! Hence a worn out delete button on my computer.

I hope to come back to the word ‘lucky’ so please hold it in mind as I continue.

So, here’s the thing, I have been tasked to write something about my appointment to direct Get Up, Stand Up: The Bob Marley Musical. As I write those words, the deepest sense of achievement fills me and I pause to take in air as the weight and responsibility of that lands like an iron door falling on Bugs Bunny, leaving him flattened and wide eyed. What a bloody honour! Especially considering I’m of Jamaican heritage and Marley is not only a hero but like the North Star to me.

I’ve just read this back and now feel less third-rate Akala and more first-rate eeeddyyat (said in full Jamaican patois please).

My insecurity heightened after watching myself on BBC news last week where, in a segment about the National Theatre online release of Death of England: Delroy, they didn’t mention I co-wrote it with Roy Williams, or directed the play, or when it was on … or even my name. Which could be for the best as the edit left me sounding like Malcolm Y instead of X. But the point I was trying to make was in fact at the heart of being offered Get Up, Stand Up in the first place. In the wake of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter finally becoming central to our thinking, theatre (thankfully) is trying to make amends (or should I say changes?) for ignoring and standing by as talent from minorities rots away like an old banana in a fruit bowl.

You see, the man originally engaged to direct the musical Get Up, Stand Up was Dominic Cooke. Knowing the mighty Dominic as I do - he has been my boss on many occasions - I suspect it was not only a generous, bold and respectful move on his part to step aside and offer me this role but also one based in his deep love of theatre. Well, I guess that is what I would like to believe. I’d like/need to believe that he thinks that stories told by the people of whom they speak will inherently have a flavour and an understanding that brings a richer, more nuanced take on the work, and in fact increase the desire for works from minorities because of that insight.

In short I think he believes that it’s good for theatre. And he loves theatre, so of course he would offer it to me... no? Maybe not, Clint. It’s a very knotty prospective for an artist to concede… because I agree with the position that with hard work and diligence, anyone can produce works of genius about anything, because in fact that is the job.  You only have to look at The Wire. I myself starred in the wonderfully received, Olivier winning, Dominic Cooke production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, at the National Theatre... and here’s my hand, poised again over the delete button ready for the 8th effing draft of this article!

So why is it right for me to do this production? Am I just lucky? Yes. Yes, I am… but it’s taken 30 years in this industry for me to feel that. As I have as an actor, writer, director, across theatre, film and television, had to endure such a multitude of disingenuous behaviour; such racism and bias, it’s a wonder I stayed in it (unlike many Black peers) or out of frustration, didn’t resort to the violence I grew up amongst, in the then National Front stronghold of East London. Everything I have achieved has been hard fought and sometimes the result of a humiliating hustle.

I sit now wondering how many times that paragraph will be taken out of context and used against me. But it’s 2020 right? Different days, right? So onward I go, like a frightened hedgehog… a spiky motionless ball of fear.

I ask myself, was it luck that got me here? Endurance? Or was it my faith in myself that keeps me going, or faith in my peers? That one day they would see me - actually really see me, my talent, my creativity, before they saw my colour. Or that they would recognise and release the biases they hold firmly, like a batsman holds his cricket bat, knocking me consciously and unconsciously out of the stadium for a six.

I settle on all of the above, as I reflect on the fruitful relationships I have managed to cultivate in theatre especially… the continuing and bright one at the National under Rufus Norris and Emily McLaughlin; with Complicite; and of course with my mentor and dear friend Philip Hedley, formerly the artistic director of Theatre Royal Stratford East.

All that notwithstanding… perhaps I’ve left myself too naked? I’m at risk of not playing the game enough to secure future employment. Again, I stare, tense, at the delete button. Maybe this is that email you should write and never send. Gulp.

Look. All I can really say about this opportunity is that I will put my heart and soul into it. That I’ll use all of my faculties to ensure Bob Marley’s legacy remains intact, that I’ll make every attempt to hold up his message of Black liberation being central to any idea of unity, collectivism and One loveism - and that I will endeavour to entertain and thrill and excite anyone who buys a ticket and sits in the Lyric Theatre come May 28 next year. And lastly… that Dominic Cooke, you’re one of the most honourable men I know - a true Mensch and ally, whatever your motive.

Clint Dyer is the director of Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical, by Lee Hall, starring Arinzé Kene and opening at the Lyric Theatre on May 28, 2021. Tickets are now on sale at getupstandupthemusical.com. Death of England: Delroy will resume performances at the National Theatre in Spring 2021