‘Vitamin D’ – Exploding taboos, tackling divorce as a subject not of shame, Saher Shah is a powerful new voice…

Talented writer and performer talks to us about her debut award-winning play…

By Suman Bhuchar

THE SHOW which toured nationally last year was Winner of Best New Play Raising Awareness at London Pub Theatre Awards 2023 and was Finalist for Best Stage Production in the Asian Media Awards 2023.

We all need a dose of Vitamin D, explained Shah, especially South Asian people whose lack of exposure to the sunlight makes us deficient in the said vitamin.

However, in this context, it is a play on the word “divorce”, vitamin D, is something you don’t know you need – but it nourishes you.

There is a stigma about divorce within the Asian community in that we think, it’s something we shouldn’t be doing or talking about. But if getting out of a marriage that is not good for you – surely that’s like a vitamin nourishing you and making you feel better, she argues.

‘Vitamin D’ follows a story of a British Pakistani Muslim woman who is navigating society, almost a year after she split from her husband and the story follows who she was and who she is now, in the face of her own and other’s judgements of herself and of the women around her, Saher explained.

The play is very female centred with a women only cast, because Shah is unequivocal about addressing the South Asian patriarchy that seeks to judge women who aren’t married or the ones who’ve been married more than once and how status is equated with being married or not being married.

“We know the patriarchy and misogyny is created and upheld by men. We don’t need men in the play to remind us of that. This woman isn’t going through a divorce because she’s South Asian and Muslim. She’s going through a divorce AND she is also British Pakistani Muslim,” Saher posited.

Alongside the big themes of exploding taboos and looking at South Asian cultural mores, she also looked to challenge herself as an actor.

“I wanted to give myself an interesting role that wasn’t a trope or adding to an offensive barrage of stories that were being written about us.”

Shah explained that when she decided to pursue acting as a career, she hadn’t been to a traditional drama school and didn’t have an agent, but looked for roles through open calls and social media to build up her credits.

“I worked on great projects, but a lot of the stories asked for someone who looked like me but frankly were just offensive stories.

“I thought no one is going to hand me a lead role so I am going to make it for myself.”

Born and brought up in London, Shah fell in love with theatre at school. “It was an eye opener for me.

“My sister did drama at school and I went to her performances and I thought it was amazing that we could tell (stories) and something was ignited in me. I had always wanted to be an actor but I didn’t think it was a possibility for me as it wasn’t something that was super common.”
So, she did her undergraduate degree at the University of Hertfordshire followed by a Master’s at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine. She qualified as a clinical dietician and went to work in the NHS.

Fast forward a few years and Shah is now part of a group of South Asian creatives who are changing the theatrical landscape of London with their voice.

“I never set out to write in a specific way. I just wrote what felt real to me and as South Asians we do have these particular issues in our community, and we are also very funny. We are a very bantering people, we have different languages, we have interesting nuance within our culture and that’s what I love about being who I am.”

Top picture caption: Mama (Renu Brindle), Aunty (Zyna Goldy) and Larki (Shah)

All pictures: ©SohoTheatre/Charles Flint

Review – Comic, moving and packs a punch

THIS play, written and performed by Saher Shah, is like a sitcom where scenes are separated with music and spoken word monologues depicting the inner journey of Larki (meaning Girl) who is back home after splitting up with her husband.
The set design by Maariyah Sharjil is an abstract backdrop with scribbled illegible words, whilst the floor is surrounded by boxes depicting her inner turmoil as Larki meets everyone who comes to her house to assess and comment on her plight. Shah is a confident and able actor.
‘Vitamin D’ begins with a prologue to a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan song featuring a wedding scene followed by the words ‘Talaq, Talaq, Talaq’ (Divorce, Divorce, Divorce) before the sound all distorts and we are in the present reality in Pinner, northwest London.
Mum (Renu Brindle) does her best to shield her daughter from the gossips and neighbours, but the aunty from hell (a hamming it up Zyna Goldy) turns up to offer unsolicited advice that is perhaps the reason why Larki is home because the family did not offer the right type of Zakat (giving to charity).
Hot on the heels is the high maintenance friend Bestie (a great turn by Ambika Sharma) who enters and delivers a high speed monologue about her life, her kids and her social media – a very funny scene leaving Larki as the passive recipient.
Her real best friend is ironically a character called Friend (Anshula Bains) who offers comfort and the solace of eating chips together. Larki can be a bit sulky at moments. Every scene delineates the passing of time punctuated to a sound design by Riwa Saab featuring tracks of reggae, Qawwali or Grime tunes, where Larki delivers some seriously introspective monologues to the audience about her ongoing journey in projections by lighting designer Jack Weir.
Directed by Melina Namdar, ‘Vitamin D’ has six female actors and explores relationships between the Asian women of different generations and their interaction with the wider world – there are all kinds of varied female South Asian characters and it’s great to hear the Urdu language punctuate the conversations.
There is one white character a work colleague (a striking Rosaleen Burton) and you grimace at how her ignorance /or natural curiosity gets read as macroaggression, while her attempt at integration is seen as clichéd.
The scene about reclaiming the wedding lengha which appear to be chains that bind you is deeply moving.
It is enjoyable and has many witty moments.
ACV rating: *** (out of five)

Listing

‘Vitamin D’ (September 3) until September 21 Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE
More info/tickets https://sohotheatre.com/events/vitamin-d/
Box Office: 020 7478 0100/tickets@sohotheatre.com

90 minutes no interval