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Latest challenge: Johnson plays an asylum seeker in The Swallowing Dark

THE SWALLOWING Dark is a new play that tells first hand, the experience of asylum seekers in England.

Canaan, played by Waking The Dead star Wil Johnson, is a Zimbabwean man on the run from Mugabe’s government. He has had to leave everything behind for what he believes will be a safer life in Europe, but it turns out, life is a challenge wherever he is.

Hoping to accurately portray the struggle that refugees in Britain face daily, Johnson revealed that he has learnt many shocking things about life as an asylum seeker.

“When you embark on a play like this, a certain amount of research is involved to get to know the characters and the story,” says the 46-year-old. “I didn’t know anything about the true nature of the political situation in Zimbabwe, with the whole Mugabe regime. I was not aware of anything.”

Coincidentally, Johnson visited Zimbabwe during a heightened period of political turmoil, when he was performing in a production of Twelfth Night.

“It is actually ironic, I was in Zimbabwe back in 1998 in a theatre tour. It’s amazing how you can go to a country and be in a situation, but if you’re not aware of the political dynamics, it can literally pass you by. This play has given me an awareness of the political situation, which was necessary in order to know why my character escaped from Zimbabwe and came to England to claim refugee asylum.”

To walk in another person’s shoes, was just a popular saying for the Waterloo Road star, until he began to explore his character.

“You get people complaining about asylum seekers, who come and ‘take the jobs’ and blah blah blah, but the life of an asylum seeker can be very bleak and uncertain.

“Most of these people are highly skilled and highly educated, but they don’t have the permission to work and therefore cannot make money. They have to live off food stamps and live in squalid accommodation. They do not have any prospects or don’t know if they can earn money to feed their children.”

The production seeks to bring to light the human consequence of immigration; the pain and suffering that many people go through in the hope of a better existence.

“There are people walking around in this country that have witnessed real horror; they may have watched their loved ones being killed in front of their eyes. It is a play that brings an awareness of the individual aspects of being an asylum seeker; this will give people a little bit of enlightenment. I hope the audience will leave the play and be a little more tolerant to refugees.”

Having undertaken many diverse roles throughout his career, from Babyfather to The Bill, the Londoner believes he is able to show the real strength and dignity of a person.

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“This character is a new dimension for me. It allowed me to study Zimbabwean culture, learn the dialect and learn how to be a person who has lived life as someone who is just trying to survive. The journey that Canaan goes on is a kind of a rite of passage; he is on a road to self discovery.”

He continues: “What people forget, in the political hot pots of all these countries with civil wars and unrest, is that there are human beings. Families get ripped apart, people die, loved ones are lost. Their experiences could have broken them but they choose to make it strengthen them rather than let it take away from who they are.

“They are strong; they fight against the temptation to just crumble. I was able to put that in the character as a positive thing.”

The Swallowing Dark is at Theatre 503, Battersea Park Road, London SW11 until November 26. For more information, visit www.theatre503.com