Arinze Kene

If you are familiar with the world of up and coming theatre, the name Arinze Kene will surely ring a bell. He is a leader in his field and his CV is the envy of many young actors in the UK. An actor, writer and director, Arinze has had roles in Eastenders and the stage productions of Lion King and Daddy Cool. Arinze also played a leading role in Che Walker’s musical, Been So Long. For his latest project Arinze has penned his own play, Estate walls, which is showing at the Oval House theatre in Kennington. The play is part of the Omo London Festival taking part at the theatre which will be celebrating Nigeria’s Independence. With all this in mind we thought it was time for a catch up with Arinze.

What inspired you to write Estate Walls? Was it based on your own experiences?

Estate Walls is a play inspired by the many days and nights I spent on estates in my younger years.

I was born in Nigeria and came over here when I was three years old. We moved straight into an estate in Hackney and have lived in Hackney ever since. We soon moved out of estates but through my youth I’ve always had a relationship with the estate. Even in the house I live in right now, my bedroom window faces out into Somerford Grove estate in Stoke Newington.

Having had many of my friends living in estates and having spent so many nights there I knew I wanted to write about these characters. I had seen a few films and some stage plays covering much of urban youth but I thought they were all missing a key thing, which was the complex relationships between these characters and how much they look out for each other and love each other.

You can say the play is inspired by my own experience when I was growing up and outgrew some of my friends. It was hard leaving them behind but I knew that there were more friends out there in the world to be made. There was much fun to be had when I was younger but as I got older I had to start thinking about my future – “it takes a man to walk away from a game”.

How did you get involved in playwriting? And how did you manage to get your play on the Oval House stage?

Scarcely did I begin working towards my dream of becoming an actor when I realised just how much reading was involved. LOADS! You read lots and lots of scripts. It came to mind that a lot of these scripts didn’t have the characters I’ve known so well all my life written in them. This was enough to drive me to pick up the pen to write. I wanted to document it. I thought if I don’t then who will. I respect and recognise the efforts by other great writers to document the Young Urban experience or the Black British experience, but I needed to tell it from my angle. A lot of the things the media look down on, in reality, they start as funny games with kind intentions but once in a while spiral out of control. I needed to tell this story of how a young mans gift could also be his curse.

We managed to get Estate Walls to the stage but it took a lot of hard work. With thanks to the team at Inner City Theatre, to Oval House, to Paines Plough, to ETT, to The Arts Council and various trusts and foundations, we’ve raised the money and received enough in-kind support to stage the play. We are very grateful to those who have believed in the play allowing it to reach this stage.

The play itself has undergone various workshops with actors, and various staged rehearsed readings to get to this stage. Hearing it read to you by professional actors in from of an audience is very helpful when developing you script.

The Omo London festival at Oval House is focusing on Britain’s Nigerian community. You have been in the UK for a while. How would you describe your heritage?

When people ask me where I’m from I normally reply “what, in London or country?” and if they meant country, well I say I’m Nigerian. I was born in Lagos, I have a Nigerian passport as well as a British passport and I am very in touch with my roots. I love London, but I think when I retire I’ll be going home to Mother Africa. I love where I am from.

How do you feel about Nigeria’s 50th Independence? How will you be celebrating?

I think that Nigeria’s independence is something worth celebrating. However in my household we just don’t celebrate it. This year, I celebrate Nigeria’s independence with Estate Walls being programmed for the OMO LONDON festival.

What is there to look forward to in the next 50 years in Nigeria?

Well, a lot I hope. I hope we fix up. I really do. Nigeria is a very resourceful country but it is not well governed. Hopefully a great figure will come by and change the way Nigerians in Nigeria think of Nigeria (from the inside out). I think that’s the only way we are going to get it right.