WEBVTT 00:01.020 --> 00:02.820 position:0% line:0% size:90% - I got given the novel written by Andrea Levy, 00:04.860 --> 00:07.650 position:0% line:0% size:90% and this novel was beautiful. 00:07.650 --> 00:08.830 position:0% line:0% size:90% It was brilliant. 00:08.830 --> 00:10.170 position:0% line:0% size:90% It was witty. 00:10.170 --> 00:12.530 position:0% line:0% size:90% And it had told a side of a story 00:12.530 --> 00:14.970 I had never really read before. 00:14.970 --> 00:16.440 position:0% line:0% size:90% - The story gives light 00:16.440 --> 00:19.400 position:0% line:0% size:90% to lots of different types of people in that time. 00:19.400 --> 00:21.210 - These are stories that must be told. 00:21.210 --> 00:23.330 How great that Andrea has written this book. 00:23.330 --> 00:25.420 position:0% line:0% size:90% There are incredibly sad moments. 00:25.420 --> 00:26.460 position:0% line:0% size:90% There are violent moments. 00:26.460 --> 00:27.960 position:0% line:0% size:90% There are funny moments. 00:27.960 --> 00:30.790 It's a very big, all encompassing story 00:30.790 --> 00:32.110 about something that happened, 00:32.110 --> 00:33.760 about something that's shocking, 00:33.760 --> 00:36.030 about something you perhaps didn't really know. 00:36.030 --> 00:37.260 - I have to admit, I was like, 00:37.260 --> 00:40.110 wow, how on Earth are we gonna make this? 00:40.110 --> 00:43.250 How on Earth can we tell this story properly? 00:43.250 --> 00:45.220 And I knew I had to do it. 00:45.220 --> 00:47.620 - [Narrator] The tale I have to tell 00:47.620 --> 00:49.807 is quite a different one. 00:49.807 --> 00:51.430 - "The Long Song" means a lot to me 00:51.430 --> 00:53.970 because of the heritage that it taps into, 00:53.970 --> 00:55.170 which is also mine. 00:55.170 --> 00:57.040 My mother is Jamaican. 00:57.040 --> 00:58.240 My grandmother is Jamaican. 00:58.240 --> 01:00.070 My mom came here at 17. 01:00.070 --> 01:04.610 Stories like this really make me proud to be Jamaican, 01:04.610 --> 01:06.230 because even though it's fictional, 01:06.230 --> 01:08.750 the real rebellion did happen. 01:08.750 --> 01:11.200 It's a really, really inspiring job. 01:11.200 --> 01:13.540 - Think we learned a lot through the material, 01:13.540 --> 01:15.980 through talking about what it means 01:15.980 --> 01:19.800 to be a Black woman or a Black man. 01:19.800 --> 01:22.570 And I think the actors themselves were engaging with that. 01:22.570 --> 01:24.180 - Because of the subject matter, 01:24.180 --> 01:26.580 position:0% line:0% size:90% we knew that we sort of had a collective responsibility 01:26.580 --> 01:29.330 position:0% line:0% size:90% to tell the story and and take it seriously, 01:29.330 --> 01:32.299 but not take ourselves seriously at the same time. 01:32.299 --> 01:34.970 - Familiarity is just, it's useful, 01:34.970 --> 01:37.030 'cause you become kind of more comfortable 01:37.030 --> 01:39.770 with each other, just as yourselves. 01:39.770 --> 01:41.380 - He does not want to see you. 01:41.380 --> 01:44.260 - Certain things that Caroline does are so awful. 01:44.260 --> 01:45.437 And when I was reading it, going, 01:45.437 --> 01:47.120 "I don't know how I'm gonna do this 01:47.120 --> 01:50.190 and not feel like my skin's crawling afterwards." 01:50.190 --> 01:52.340 But because there's like a playfulness and a trust there, 01:52.340 --> 01:53.730 we know that it was all done for the love 01:53.730 --> 01:56.273 position:0% line:0% size:90% of wanting to share a great story with each other. 01:57.290 --> 02:00.730 - People get a bit frightened about whether it's okay 02:00.730 --> 02:04.400 to represent how we were treated back in the day, 02:04.400 --> 02:07.610 but we say bring it on, show it, tell the stories. 02:07.610 --> 02:08.930 It's important that people know. 02:08.930 --> 02:10.410 - It's challenging material. 02:10.410 --> 02:12.850 I think Andrea wanted it to be challenging. 02:12.850 --> 02:14.780 I think we want it to be challenging, 02:14.780 --> 02:17.140 but we also want people to (laughs) love it, 02:17.140 --> 02:18.580 because it's important. 02:18.580 --> 02:21.470 - It's really sad, but there's so much joy 02:21.470 --> 02:22.550 and humor and light in it, 02:22.550 --> 02:24.740 which kind of maybe gives, 02:24.740 --> 02:26.780 deceives people into taking it in a bit more. 02:26.780 --> 02:28.270 And I hope people, it will hit, 02:28.270 --> 02:31.550 the motifs will hit and people will recognize that actually, 02:31.550 --> 02:33.950 the course of the world doesn't change by itself. 02:33.950 --> 02:36.113 Radical moments that happen, 02:37.180 --> 02:38.570 that allow us to move forward. 02:38.570 --> 02:39.617 - And I've heard people say, 02:39.617 --> 02:42.770 "Oh, we don't want to, it's too hard to watch. 02:42.770 --> 02:45.420 These stories are too difficult to engage in. 02:45.420 --> 02:48.010 It's other, it's such a terrible experience, 02:48.010 --> 02:49.750 it must belong over there." 02:49.750 --> 02:51.700 And what Andrea, I think, wanted to do, 02:51.700 --> 02:53.777 and what we wanted to do was say, 02:53.777 --> 02:56.690 "No, humans experienced this," 02:56.690 --> 03:01.050 and remind people that people have lives 03:01.050 --> 03:03.210 outside of the trauma, 03:03.210 --> 03:05.120 and ways of surviving that, 03:05.120 --> 03:07.790 which is beautiful and brilliant, 03:07.790 --> 03:09.660 despite all the tragedy is, 03:09.660 --> 03:12.320 is a beautiful courage, is tenacity. 03:12.320 --> 03:14.380 And that is a really exciting way 03:14.380 --> 03:19.101 of getting into a very challenging subject. 03:19.101 --> 03:22.434 (soft orchestral music)