“If you love love, you will definitely love this play”

From left to right: Xanthus (Director/Movement Director), Chantelle Alle (Writer/Producer), Elise Palmer (Actor, April), Kofi De-Graft-Jordan (Actor, Francis)

We caught up with the cast and crew behind When It Snows In April, which is part of our upcoming South London Previews Festival. We chatted first loves, self-discovery, teenage-hood, nostalgia and joy. Read on to find out more about this coming-of-age love story!

Can you please introduce yourself and your character?

Elise: My name is Elise and I'm going to be playing April.

I would say April is someone who on the surface is quite quiet and shy, but I think she's got a fun, witty side to her. She's gone through and experienced a lot of things, but when she meets Francis, I think he brings out a side to her that she thought she’d lost. And then she's now on a journey with this new person in her life.

Kofi: My name is Kofi and I will be playing Francis.

With Francis, I would say he is what you would expect from your sporty, athletic, popular, 16-year-old teenager. He's a people's person, he's definitely confident.

But I think, like many of us during our teenage years, he has that façade we put up in front of our peers and our friends. We see with Francis throughout the story that there is a bit of a hidden exterior… No spoilers, but we get to see more vulnerability and hidden shadows from Francis that I think a lot of us can relate to.

What is When It Snows In April about?

K: WISIA is essentially a love story between Francis and April. You'll see them through many stages of their lives – the play starts when they first meet at sixteen and it's their first day of secondary school. WISIA is about young love – which again, we all relate to – and how the characters navigate that. Without spoiling it, the ending is like… alrightttt, like the icing on the cake.

E: I would say it's a coming-of-age story. The ages between sixteen to eighteen are like the formative years of the things you experience and how they make the person that you develop into. So, I think it’s not just purely a love story between April and Francis, but also them discovering and re-discovering themselves as people. How we deal with traumatic things that happen to us and how it can affect the relationships that we have.

E: And the nostalgia aspect as well! People who come to see the show can think back to what it was like when they were at school and being in love for the first time.

K: If you love love, you will definitely love this show.

E: Yeah, definitely.

For Chantelle (writer and producer of WISIA), what led you to write this play? And what were you inspired by in your writing?

Chantelle: I wrote WISIA because I'm a hopeless romantic, and I wanted to write a coming-of-age love story in a world that felt familiar to me. I grew up in south London, and I wanted to just write what my teenage self would have loved to experience if she fell in love then.

While I was writing, I was inspired by a lot of Frank Ocean. I was listening to that throughout the writing process, and so I knew that I wanted to incorporate that into the piece. And also, the culture of the 2010s, particularly 2011 where this play is set. I really wanted to use all the cultural references from that time - so BlackBerry phones, the music, the food, all that.

For Xanthus (director/movement director), what are some of the joys and/or difficulties of directing WISIA?

The joy I faced when directing this piece is being amongst Black magic. Like just feeling and creating magic with people makes me really happy. It’s the process that I care about. I really enjoy sinking our teeth into some beautiful writing and then making it come alive.

And I really find the joy in nostalgia and relating to a moment. There's something specific about bringing that memory into the rehearsal room, and then everyone being like “Yeah! I remember that!” Like that visceral reaction to nostalgia is such a joy.

An obstacle as the director was trying to tackle the shift in time and location, and just trying to figure out how best to tell a story that spans several years.

For both Chantelle and Xanthus, what do you hope audiences leave the theatre with?

X: I hope they will leave the theatre with another piece of art to add to the arsenal when it comes to looking at Black love stories. We haven't had a staple up until Rye Lane (2023). WISIA is another one we can add to the library of black British culture in terms of romantic comedies.

C: Yeah, I would say I want the audience to take away the feeling of nostalgia, especially for those times when everyone was young and carefree and in love… Yeah, that feeling of nostalgia and love.

X: And hope! We’d like them to take away hope and what it means to live with intention and honesty.

When It Snows In April premieres on Thursday 18th July, 7.15pm at Streatham Space Project. Tickets selling fast - book now.