‘Brown Girl Noise’ – Telling it as it is out there for women of colour…
Written out of frustration in the way brown women are often cast…
By Suman Bhuchar
‘Brown Girl Noise’ is a new play currently at Riverside Studios, London, exploring representation, self-esteem and stereotypes
It is the brain child of Kaya Uppal, a writer and actor.
It is a tale of four women who walk into a room for an audition and end up being best friends, sharing stories, sisterhood and solidarity.
Uppal told www.asianculturevulture.com that she was inspired to write something after seeing the work of Ryan Cameron Calais, ‘For Black Boys Who have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Heavy’.
“I was starting to see a lot of shows of what it means to be a person of colour growing up in the UK and I think I just realised there is nothing like that for South Asian women,” she told acv.
Seeing what the Black Boys play did for the Black community and for black men, I began to think about how do we empower South Asian women in the same way and how do we tell their stories in a really nuanced ways, she continued.
She feels that young Asian women today (we’re not clear which generation that would be) but basically women in their 20s are trying to understand “where are we at now?”, especially if they happen to be working as South Asian actors of colour.
Most of the jobs for female Asian actors that require you to make self-tapes or read for – are along the lines of where the woman is called ‘Jasmine’ or ‘Priya’ (they have become popular names in auditions), she recounted wearily.
“Invariably, you realise that the character is not authentic or nuanced enough and has probably been written by someone who is not actually South Asian.”
Uppal, who grew up in Reading, trained as an actor at The Brit School and wasn’t intending to write, but after a period of getting such auditions she began to pen something.
“I never intended to put this on. I kind of just wrote it for myself, just to get it out. I was very lucky there were people around me who encouraged me to put it on.”
So, the show ended up at The Hope Theatre, part of the Camden Fringe, then it went to The Glitch, Waterloo and now the third iteration arrives bigger and better at Riverside Studios.
Uppal tells us about the premise of the show -there are four South Asian women who are waiting to audition to play the role of Priti Patel for a biopic on her.
While they are waiting to be called, they start chit-chatting with each other, have a little bit tug of war argument over who will possibly get the role before finally deciding that it’s not worth fighting over such roles.
They decide to tell their own stories about what it is to grow up as a South Asian woman.
The women take charge of their own destiny and begin to create their own narratives around life and experiences, and ‘Brown Girl Noise’ is a celebration of South Asian sisterhood in all its nuance and complexity.
The show is divided into different chapters, or skits, where everyone has an opportunity to share and enact a story.
It’s a varied scenario from discussing inspirational Asian women from history, to poking fun at TV programmes like ‘The Kardashians’ and ‘Love Island’, discussing school friends, uni-brows, thus presenting a smorgasbord (or thali) of stories. Some funny, others dark.
Uppal has also avoided giving the characters conventional South Asian names and has chosen names which resonanate with sounds.
She becomes ‘Clash’, while other cast members are as follows: Amrita Mangat is ‘Ring’ while Ayesha Sharma becomes ‘Hum’ and Misha Domadia is ‘Whisper’.
Her aim is to avoid the Asian stereotyping of names being associated with caste, class and community connections or limiting in terms of the scope for character development.
I don’t think I wanted to give them specific names because it feels very limiting. I wanted something that is abstract enough to feel like it could be any woman and those names selected echo with what ‘Brown Girl Noise’ is all about.
“It had to be a kind of noise, especially in my culture, music being such a big part, it made complete sense.”
The show is being supported by Phizzical and director, Samir Bhamra told acv: “Kaya’s work amplifies South Asian women’s stories with wit and power. Without this support the production risked cancellation, which would have been a huge loss.”
There is a hunger for people to be represented from every community and every generation of South Asians want to talk about their own reality.
This version of ‘Brown Girl Noise’ is directed by Zarshaa Ismail and presented by The South Asian Beauty Collective, this new staging brings even more chaos, catharsis and connection to the stage.
“I just want Asian women to feel seen and feel like someone understood them, have a laugh and feel the heavier moments and that their voices matter,” she emphasised.
The shows continue until Sunday (September 28) at Riverside Studios.
Performances are Tuesdays to Sundays. (Times vary, check listings)..
‘Brown Girl Noise’ by Kaya Uppal, Riverside Studios, 101 Caroline Street, Hammers,Ith London W6 9BN
https://riversidestudios.co.uk/see-and-do/brown-girl-noise-182996
Age recommendation 15+
70 mins
