Brown Girl Noise – Riverside Studios
Brightly coloured curtains hang behind painted step-stools, Hindi film songs play from the speakers. An apt stage setting for a play about South Asian stereotypes.
Four brown girls gather for an audition. In an industry where the character choices for a South Asian actor are between “funny best friend”, “wedding guest” or “Bollywood dancer”, this here is a meaty role – to play Priti Patel.
With the auditions delayed, the four find themselves with a lot of time to kill. In the forced proximity of that confined space they go from being rivals to building a sisterhood, brought together by the realities of growing up brown.
Written by Kaya Uppal (who also plays one of the young women) and directed by Zarshaa Ismail, the play is a tapestry of experiences. In the waiting room, the women...