“That is such an articulate way of putting it Caleb,
because that is, I think, what draws us into any type
of live medium – be that theatre, music, comedy, or
sport. You're engaging with something that is suggesting
you need to suspend your disbelief, but it's not. It's
actually asking you to augment your reality, and to accept
slightly changed or bended rules and invest into that.
That allows your heart to come out, it allows your soul
to come out, and allows you to release the grip that the
cerebral or the neurotic has on you which I think is amazing.
And that's what I’ve felt anytime that I've watched an
incredible artist, a great rapper, or a perfectly pinged pass
across the goal. Just like great plays, it's inherently fictional.
It picks up on something that's so fundamentally truthful.
So, that's definitely something that we can always strive to
do as artists.”
Actor Paapa Essiedu first entered the public imagination
when his performance in the fearless, frank and provocative
comedy-drama, I May Destroy You, propelled him to
Primetime Emmy and British Academy Television Award
nominations. Now, he’s becoming one of the most
celebrated actors of our generation. In his latest project,
he plays Tristan in the revival of Lucy Prebble’s, The Effect.
And everyone, I mean everyone, has gone to see it. Probing
thought-provoking questions,The Effect sees Essiedu lead
alongside 29-year-old Hollywood starlet, Taylor Russell, who
plays Connie, in a dopamine-based pharmaceutical trial that
chews up the very foundations of what love, longing, being
and belonging truly means – and spits them straight back out
for you to decipher. It’s funny, cool, powerful and vulnerable.
Essiedu undoubtedly stirs the audience, and unwillingly steals
their hearts. Covering our Autumn/Fall 2023 issue, Essiedu meets
award-winning author of Open Water, Caleb Nelson, in the BFI’s
café, to let us into what makes his performances just so goddamn good.
Paapa Essiedu wears Fendi
Photography by Danny Kasirye
Fashion by Toni-Blaze Ibekwe
Interview by Caleb Nelson
Words by Ella Bardsley
Editorial Director Charlotte Morton
Editor in Chief Toni-Blaze Ibekwe
Senior Editor Ella Bardsley
Editor Erica Rana
Deputy Editor Ella West
Art Director Livia Vourlakidou
Makeup Carlos Ferraz at Carol Hayes Management using Omorovicza
Barber Christian Chidubem Okonta
Production Director Benjamin Crank
Producer Isabella Coleman
Production Assistant Lola Randall
Art Direction Assistant Beth Griffiths
Art Direction Intern Will Glen
Fashion Assistant Zhanna Moskalyova
Fashion Interns Amelia Provic, Mora Ilaka, Annabel Webste, Kiara Morris
Photography Assistant Neil Jackson
Lighting Assistant Madison Blair
Photography by Danny Kasirye
Fashion by Toni-Blaze Ibekwe
Interview by Caleb Nelson
Words by Ella Bardsley
Editorial Director Charlotte Morton
Editor in Chief Toni-Blaze Ibekwe
Senior Editor Ella Bardsley
Editor Erica Rana
Deputy Editor Ella West
Art Director Livia Vourlakidou
Makeup Carlos Ferraz at Carol Hayes Management using Omorovicza
Barber Christian Chidubem Okonta
Production Director Benjamin Crank
Producer Isabella Coleman
Production Assistant Lola Randall
Art Direction Assistant Beth Griffiths
Art Direction Intern Will Glen
Fashion Assistant Zhanna Moskalyova
Fashion Interns Amelia Provic, Mora Ilaka, Annabel Webste, Kiara Morris
Photography Assistant Neil Jackson
Lighting Assistant Madison Blair
