Queer actors from in and around Merseyside have praised a local production company for its diversity.
4 AM Productions, founded by Crosby’s Sab Muthusamy, put on Murder at Cadberry Manor at the Hope Street Theatre over the weekend. The play followed the story of a gala dinner at a country manor, during which a killer poisons guests.
The characters were interestingly named after chocolates and sweets, such as Detective Hari Bo and Sir Toby LeRone. The show had unique QR codes which enabled the audience to vote for who they thought the killer was at various points throughout.
READ MORE: Netflix airs film on Liverpool gangsters, guns, drugs and ear biting
The ECHO spoke to some of the cast members involved with the murder mystery and they told us all about the inclusive nature of the company.
For Rafaela Dias, it is knowing she is being judged on her talent abilities rather than her skin colour which makes her want to keep working with the company after the weekend’s performance.
The 28-year-old, originally from Portugal but now living in Crosby, told the ECHO: “Until I was five, I used to do a lot of acting in my home country - I was in a couple of commercials and TV series. Then I got pulled back from it as a cultural thing acting wasn’t really seen as a career path.
“Working in hotel management for five years, it drained me and I had no life or time for anything. I lost that creative side of myself. Now getting back into acting has been amazing, especially in Liverpool. It’s such a positive city and you can really feel the creative industry just out there vibing all the time.”
Rafaela, who works for the city’s Exchange Flags, said getting her foot back into the industry hasn’t been smooth sailing.
Speaking more on the challenges she faced over the last year, the actress added: “It's tricky because not a lot of opportunities come up and when they do, a lot of the times you see casting calls for white people but yet have no specific reason. The role could be played by anyone. It’s unnecessary and in real life, you see different people from all sorts of cultural backgrounds, so why doesn’t casting represent that as well?”
Sab Muthusamy created the company after having gone through similar experiences to Rafaela himself. The 31-year-old told the ECHO: “I was looked down upon for not being classically trained and being seen as an amateur. I was severely underestimated and never given a chance to showcase what I could do or even learn.
“Even as an actor, I found so many roles advertised online for white actors despite the description of them being someone every day and normal and therefore could be played by anyone. This left me very jaded and I did not perform for three years as a result.
“It had a big strain on me; I felt like someone I loved had been taken away from me. I went into a stagnant period in life where despite ideas, I did not have the confidence or motivation to go out and create.”
Receive our weekly LGBTQIA+ newsletter by signing up here
The manager at Everyman and Playhouse Theatres said he used his acting hiatus as an opportunity to heal and return to the industry - reinvented. With lived experience, making sure 4 AM Productions doesn’t discriminate or segregate is at the forefront of Sab’s mind.
He added: “Everyone is equal and everyone will always feel valued. I feel immensely proud of the strides we have made in such a short space of time. It’s easy to talk but doing things is a different kettle of fish. We have promoted diversity and pushed for equal representation and given opportunities to actors from many different backgrounds and I am so proud of that fact.
“The industry can be very cruel, but we believe it does not need to be and creating a safe space for people to work and create is important. There is still a long way to go but I am not afraid to ruffle feathers and challenge any beliefs.”
4 AM Productions have also been known to give LGBTQ+ actors fair and equal opportunities. Bisexual actor Tristan Harper, from Tuebrook but now living in Old Swan, played the role of Friar Tuckshop - a role which he said couldn’t have gone down better with a Liverpool audience.
The 26-year-old got his foot into the creative industry thanks to the help of those at the unity theatre and has now managed to secure his first professional acting job.
He added: “I am bisexual so being in this atmosphere has really helped in the sense you get such a feel of the place being a safe space. With my autism, it has been an uphill struggle.
"The help for it stopped when I was 18, I was just basically cut off from all the support I had previously. I was left to my own devices and I needed to find a community where I could grow.
“For a long time, I was genuinely suicidal. It was just absolutely unbearable at certain points, but I got the help that I needed and I pushed much into a better place, getting back into performing after a two-year gap was amazing. I couldn’t be any more different as a person and acting is something I’m utterly grateful for.”
Tristan added: “The community within 4 AM productions has just been unparalleled and incredibly important to me. Moving forward, I am definitely going to want to be working on other projects that care about representation just like 4 AM does.”
READ MORE:
