Don Warrington, best known as Philip in Rising Damp, thought he’d never return to the theatre. Then he read the script for Elmina’s Kitchen, writes Richard Hodkinson

THOSE who know Don Warrington best may be surprised to find him nightly treading the boards of the Garrick Theatre in Kwame Kwei-Armah’s highly praised Elmina’s Kitchen.
“Before I read this particular script,” he explains, “I hadn’t done any theatre for nine years, and never thought I would again, curiously. I thought I’ d had enough of it, because the theatre is so exposing. You’re up there at eight, you don’t come off until ten and when the process starts there’s nowhere to hide – you can’t stop and start again if it all goes wrong. After so much TV and so many films I didn’t feel I wanted to be that exposed again.”
The play, which tells the story of a black family’s struggle against crime and the breakdown of the social order on Hackney’s notorious Lower Clapton Road, is the first non-musical British production that focuses on black issues to play on a major West End Stage.
Following a successful run at the Royal National Theatre and a national tour, Elmina’s Kitchen has been praised by critics not only for the quality and courage of its writing, but as the kind of work which may encourage the black community – currently massively under represented among theatre audiences – into the West End.
Warrington, who lives in Primrose Hill, plays Clifton the ambitious but deeply flawed father of the play’s central character Deli, played by the author and well-known Casualty actor Kwei-Armah. “There are so many commercial pressures placed on any West End production,” says Warrington in the mellifluous baritone made famous through his appear-ances in the TV comedy classic Rising Damp and the more recent BBC series Manchild.
“But for a play with this subject matter the pressure is that much greater. The question is always whether there is an audience for an all-black, non-musical piece. It was a question that had never really arisen before in London, so it was a risk. As to whether there is an audience for this material I have to quote one of the show’s producers who keeps on saying ‘If we build it, they will come’.”
From his privileged position on stage, does there appear to be a greater number of black faces in the audience for Elmina’s Kitchen than for a conventional West End drama?
“Oh, certainly,” he replies. “It’s being supported very well by both black and white audiences. I think people want to come and see something that represents an aspect of their lives, and there’s a great deal of interest in the difficulties that that section of our community faces.
“That is undoubtedly one of the things drawing people to the theatre, but the play also has a lot of the humour that always seems to spring out of difficult times.”
In addition to being one of the country’s best known black actors, Warrington established a place for himself in the pantheon of comic performers through Rising Damp, a show that places him at the heart of one of the great comedy ensembles to appear on British TV.
Despite this, Warrington remains slightly bemused by the professional reputation he has earned. “It always comes as a surprise to me that I’m thought of as a comic actor, because I don’t think I’m terribly funny at all” he says. “Actually, I’m not sure if there is such a thing as a comic actor – you just do the work that’s in front of you and, if you have some sense of timing and if the material is funny, then you make it funny.”
Phil, the character played by Warrington in Rising Damp, was among the first black roles on British TV that did not trade on popular stereotype.
Sitcoms of the period, in particular, could be relied upon to treat their black characters, at best, as ciphers and at worst with a careless racism that makes the toes of contemporary audience curl with embarrassment.
Did Warrington have a sense that he was breaking new ground with Rising Damp? “Not at all,” he says. “That may sound surprising today because my character was obviously treated very differently to other black and ethnic figures in other shows.
“But you never realise you’re breaking ground until you’ve broken it. I just felt that I was in the right place at the right time – it was simply a job that came my way. I did it, then it did what it did – I had no concept that it would prove to be groundbreaking.”
Was he aware that the show would establish itself as a comedy classic? “Again, not really,” he continues. “I thought it was very funny; we all did. It made me laugh out loud and all the characters, in a comedic sense, were true and well found. But you never know what a show is going to – you can only do it as well as you are able and the rest just happens.”
The actor’s family migrated to the UK from Trinidad when he was still a small boy, although the seeds of his future career had been planted in the West Indies.
He says: “Quite why I came to act is a mystery that has yet to be revealed to me. I think it might go back to being taken to see an Asian film in Trinidad – the first time I went to the cinema, I think – and, of course, in those films you have princes rescuing maidens in distress and swinging from castle to castle. It was a romantic romp, but I thought that that was something I’d like to do. It was a childish wish but it stayed with me until we came to England and I saw Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront.”
Growing up in Newcastle, Warrington initially kept his thespian ambitions to himself. “I told my family when I was about 16,” he says. “They met my announcement with a degree of surprise because, as far as they could tell, there seemed to be no reason for me to want to do this, beyond the odd school play.
“But I do remember the local bishop thinking that I was quite good, which lead me to believe that if the clergy approved, there must be something in it.
“That bishop does deserve some credit for my career, I suppose. If I met him today I’d certainly shake him by the hand.”

• Elmina’s Kitchen plays at the Garrick Theatre, Charing Cross Road, WC2. Box office 0870 890 1104.