Actor Jack Lowden says that a background research for The Long Song helped him know more about the real and untaught chapters of history of the abolition of slavery in Jamaica. By Team Viva
How would you describe The Long Song?
The Long Song is compelling, important and the way it’s told in this version has got some swagger and attitude that I think people wouldn’t otherwise expect. It is a three-part drama based on a book adaptation about a very important period of time in Jamaica — the end of the slave trade. It focusses on July and eventually, becomes this bizarre love triangle between July, Robert (my character) and Caroline.
Tell us about your character.
Robert Goodwin arrives in Jamaica after abolition of the slave trade and emancipation. In the story, he brings the news of abolition. He is brought in as the new overseer of the plantation during this period, where the plantation owners were compensated for the abolition of slavery with money. He is there to bring this news as a big change and as a promoter of equality. But he learns very quickly that he is also there to run a business. His values and beliefs run up and hit hard into the fact that he is essentially a business owner and the business needs to survive amid this big change. It’s this struggle that Robert is involved in as he falls in love too. Hence, it also gets very messed up.
He is somebody that has been under the thumb of a very strict father for quite some time — a god-fearing father. He suddenly finds himself on an island, as a young man — a virgin, and meets a woman, whom he knows he shouldn’t fall in love with. His self-doubt is quite evident throughout the series. But when things start going wrong for him on the plantation, you see the man crumbling and falling apart. The heavy weight of expectations and responsibility crushes him.
How do you think the audience will respond to it?
I think it will be a roller coaster for the viewers. I think there will be surprises for people which unfold with certain things that are portrayed. That’s the best thing about it. It’s told in a fresh way. People band that phrase about a lot when they’re talking about films and TV that it’s fresh. And this one is genuinely that. It’s a subject matter that most people know about but hasn’t been told extensively.
What did you do to prepare for the role?
Mahalia (Belo, director) gave me a book that is a verbatim diary of a plantation owner of that time. It’s about his journey from the moment he leaves England to when he arrives in Jamaica. It’s quite remarkable what he wrote in that diary, including the view that he had of himself as a saviour of these people. The ignorance of these people is breathtaking but the fact that still they seem to have genuine love for each other is powerful. Even for him eventually. There are quite a few entries in the diary which show, in his words, “they love him so much.”
What have you learnt about that time?
I never knew that after the abolition of slavery and the emancipation, the compensation — actual money — was paid to the plantation owners by the British crown. But not a penny was given to the workers. They had nowhere else to go but these slave villages where they had been put. As Robert reveals in the piece, they can’t stay in their homes unless they pay him rent — and they cannot pay rent unless they work on the plantation and they pay them. But nothing really changed for the slaves. There was only immense frustration and helplessness later. They were working for wages that they had to instantly hand back to the same person. I never knew about that. This is also something that period dramas teach you.
It’s also very easy to forget that these people were not born there. They were brought there completely against their will like barrels of rum in ships to an island. They were pulled out of their homes, brought there and forced onto an island.
(The series airs every Monday at 10 pm on AXN.)