Recalling turbulent times at US universities - new Chichester drama

“There are so many different opinions. The characters have such opposing views. They argue and they disagree and they fall out and they make up and it's just fascinating. It is just really refreshing and humorous and really, really enjoyable.”

In the piece, the winds of change are blowing through the elite ivy-league halls of one of America’s most prestigious universities. For students Isaiah, Connor, Annabelle, Omar and Stacy, on the precipice of starting their adult lives, life is no longer about getting through a political science lecture with a hangover and auditioning for the school acapella group. Confronting the injustices of the past is top of the agenda – starting with the fact that the college is named after a notorious defender of slavery.

And in this pressure cooker environment, everyone has to pick a side.

“I had an audition. I had done a play at the Royal Court. The casting director had seen it and suggested me. I had the audition and the following day they said that I had the job. It was really cool to be validated in that way, and the lovely thing was that the audition room was just so collaborative.”

“It is set at Yale in 2015 and it was a time when not just at Yale but across America and in multiple universities there were waves of protests and university education was being challenged. It was a very turbulent time. There were also issues of police brutality which sparks microaggressions and feelings of the need for a place of safety. Multiple students were saying that they had had enough and they wanted to make their voices heard and to create safe spaces which is ironic in the title because these conversations were not safe. A safe space is somewhere where you are heard and respected and where your views are not marginalised and where you can open yourself up and express yourself and find out who you are.”

Ernest is playing Isaiah: “He is in his junior year. He’s got one more year at university left. And he is a kind of sensitive young man. He is in a grey area in terms of opinions. Around him he’s surrounded by people that put themselves in pockets of opinion and he doesn’t want to be pigeonholed in that way or just fit into one prescribed version of himself.”

A key part of the play is the acapella singing: “Jamie has done an amazing job weaving the music into the show, and Isaiah and Connor (Jamie’s character) are part of that. We sing wonderful harmony songs and that accentuates the story.

“I was in a quartet at drama school but not acapella. I grew up singing in church and in choirs and it was really something that I was able to do but acapella is very exposing but it’s also really beautiful because you are connected with someone. When you are harmonising with another person, the synergy is very beautiful.”

This is Ernest’s first time in Chichester: “I have never been to Chichester before but I love this place. It feels like a different vibe to London. It is so quiet and the people are so friendly and nice. London is great for its own reasons but it’s so populated but here it is a bit of a breeze and there are such large patches of grass and the theatre is so friendly.”