Fans might remember 37-year-old actor Hayley Atwell for her portrayal of Peggy Carter in multiple films (including Captain America: The First Avenger) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After a small but impactful appearance in Avengers: The End Game, Atwell will now be seen in a three-part TV series, The Long Song (directed by Mahalia Belo), where she plays Caroline Mortimer, the owner of a sugarcane plantation in Jamaica. The series adapted from Andrea Levy’s 2010 novel of the same name, follows the life of July (Tamara Lawrance), a slave on the plantation, and explores British colonialism, slavery, racism, violence and love. Excerpts:
Tell us about your character Caroline Mortimer?
She’s very much a woman of her time. She has very little power and very little skill. She bullies the people who have less power, namely the slaves that she owns. She’s a very damaged woman and this manifests in all manners of abuse. And yet at the heart of the story is a relationship that she has with our heroine, July. They have a strange affinity for each other.
Why do you think this is an important story to tell?
I’ve noticed in the media that there is a lot about the abolition of slavery in Jamaica and the Windrush generation, the untold stories of Britain and the treatment of black people and of people coming over from places like Jamaica. It’s a time of incredible unrest politically, but also culturally and personally for individuals. Because there’s so much talk now about the dark history of Britain and the treatment of these people, this is a story that helps to shed light on this era, which lots of people know so little about. That should be rectified.
How did you prepare for the role?
We had a little bit of rehearsal time. While we were out there, we became quite a strong ensemble. So much of what the costumes and heat did for our physicality, as an actor, was great. For the outfits, for example, I worked with our costume designer to make the character look slightly over the top – but in a way that she thought she looked great. Everything was specific, even the amount of sweat I wanted on my top lip or the back of my neck. All these little details were to try to create the image of a woman who desperately wanted to be seen in society as a lady but was anything but!
What were some of the challenges of playing Caroline?
On the page she seems to be very caricature, at times hysterical, and I knew there would be a risk of not getting the tone right. You don’t want to send her up as a two-dimensional figure. The challenge was to find her moments alone, when you could see the cost of this affected, pretentious, fake woman. Trying to create sympathy for a character who does these awful things to others, I wanted to explore what it does to your own human psyche.
Tamara Lawrence reflects on her role in The Long Song, and having tea with author Andrea Levy
British actor Tamara Lawrence, 25, began her career in 2016, starring in the miniseries Undercover, before transitioning to theatre the following year, where she played Viola in the Twelfth Night, a performance so riveting that it earned her a prize at the Ian Charleson Awards. The Long Song will see her playing Miss July, a a former slave on a sugar plantation in 19th-century Jamaica. In an interview, she discusses her character Miss July in depth, and also narrates how she got to have tea with Andrea Levy, the author of the book that the three-part series is adapted from. Excerpts:
How would you describe July as a person?
July is a product of quite a lot of trauma. She’s one of those people who is so strong because of loss, abandonment and being bereft of a parent. She’s got dignity. She’s got grace. But she’s also duplicitous. I love that July never seems to give up. I think my propensity for life is much shorter than hers. I think I would have packed it in a lot sooner than she did. She just keeps going. How can you get knocked down that many times and keep going? It just makes me think that there’s no excuse, no matter how difficult things can be – people have made it through harder times.
Tell us about the storytelling in the drama. How will this draw the viewer in?
I think the direct address to the viewer will put audiences in the room. Audiences will feel like they are in the kitchen, the field or the house with the characters. This makes you pick a side, when the narrator talks to you directly. You become an accomplice. You are complicit in what she’s going through.
What makes this a powerful story?
I know some people might think it’s just another slave narrative, but until there’s an acknowledgement that this happened, I think we should keep talking about it. Eventually it might click. What I like about this story in particular is that you can see patterns... the relationship between the characters and
the colourism present in that. The story isn’t tragic — it is really sad, but there’s so much joy and humour and light in it, that hopefully it will deceive people into taking it in a bit more. I hope it will hit home. The course of the world doesn’t change by itself. There are radical moments that happen that allow us to move forward.
Have you met Andrea Levy (the author) and did you speak about July?
When I got the job I looked up Andrea’s agent and emailed her to ask if she could ask if
she could tell her client that I had been cast as July and to thank her for her fantastic novel. Andrea emailed me back directly and asked me to come to her house for tea!
Obviously, I lost my mind and started thinking of all these questions. I did discuss July. That was one of my first questions! Andrea said that what she didn’t want was an encumbered, hard done-by victim, woe-is-me character. She said July is flawed, July is manipulative, July is a survivor and July is rebellious. She is always this indomitable spirit.