A NEW adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet explores “race dynamics” through its diverse cast, featuring actors from non-white backgrounds.
Director Corey Campbell has cast Welsh actress Mia Khan, who plays Juliet, opposite a black actor (Kyle Ndukuba, making his professional debut) as Romeo.
With an initial run at Belgrade Theatre Coventry, the production features original musical scores incorporating rap and R&B, featuring local Midlands artists That’s A Rap (lyrics), and A Class (music).
In an interview with Eastern Eye, Khan said, “Romeo and Juliet is just a timeless classic. When you think of lovers or love stories, you think of Romeo and Juliet. What’s so lovely about this version is that we’ve brought in the elements of politics and race as really important factors. “Having a black Romeo and a south Asian Juliet brings new dynamics, especially with me being mixed-race.”
Khan’s father is Welsh and her mother is Kashmiri.
She added, “The actor playing Lord Capulet (Asheq Akhtar) is south Asian, and Lady Capulet (played by Lauren Moakes) is white. That’s created a really interesting dynamic between the Capulets as a family and the connection of race between the characters. It’s been nice to break away from stereotypes.
“The relationship dynamics between Lady Capulet, the nurse (Natasha Lewis), and Juliet have been highlighted much more by the connection we have over race.
“That was something Corey tried to emphasise. When I’m talking about Romeo, and he is talking about being black – though that’s metaphorical in the Shakespearean language – when you hear it as an audience, you can’t help but connect with it, which has been amazing.”
The actress said, “Sometimes when you’re mixed race, and I’m quite whitepresenting as well, it can mean that people don’t really know where to put you. And it’s the same with Tybalt (Samuel Gosrani) in our version of Romeo and Juliet. He’s also mixed, and sometimes as an actor in casting that can be problematic for finding families or trying to cast people.
“Corey was very clear with me about making sure that it stands with its own kind of autonomy, but adding this element of race has been really amazing for me, actually.
“As a young female performer, I don’t usually get seen. There’s been times where I’ll miss out on things because they want a specific type of person, and it’s been lovely for it not just to be okay that I’m mixed race, it not be a problem, but it be celebrated and highlighted.
Khan (Juliet) with Kyle Ndukuba (Romeo)
Khan grew up in Cardiff and graduated in acting from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2023.
Her first professional job was Steeltown Murders, a BBC drama.
She said, “I did that when I was still in drama school, where I worked with Priyanga Burford, who was amazing. She played my mum. Then I did The Motive and the Cue on the West End, which was just an incredible experience. I’ve been quite lucky, actually. In the past two years, I’ve done a bit of everything – radio, film, short films, TV – but this role as Juliet has been my biggest to date, both professionally and personally.
“Leading a cast, being the lead, holding that space, and considering how much stage time I have and what I have to do – this is definitely the biggest thing I’ve ever done.
“In this version, to have the differences being celebrated and highlighted, it’s amazing, and it lends itself to the play perfectly, because it’s all about ‘two households, both alike in dignity’, hating each other. No one knows why. It is never addressed why they dislike each other. They’re very, very similar. It’s just that they don’t get on.”
Romeo and Juliet has an enduring appeal, Khan said, adding, “the play resonates because it’s timeless in the sense that everyone has been in love, everyone has felt those feelings. Everyone has done something really stupid because they love someone, or made a total fool of themselves, or made a bad decision because they’re in love and can’t help but make that wrong or right choice because they’re totally blindsided by it.”
To a question on the representation of minorities in the arts, Khan said, “It’s improving, but it’s so slow”.
“A lot of the time I find it’s tokenistic, rather than being built into the story. That’s why this version of Romeo and Juliet is so wonderful – diversity feels integral and part of the journey. “Sometimes I feel like if you aren’t white, you’re put into the ‘best friend’ box or the ‘funny side character’ role. Even being Welsh, I find that happening. What’s been really lovely about this particular character is that diversity has been brought to the forefront.
“It’s like a pendulum, isn’t it? It’s trying to swing in the right direction. People shouldn’t need to find a reason why Romeo can’t be played by a black boy or why Juliet can’t be played by a south Asian mixed race girl. I think Corey has done a brilliant job of making that come to reality. “There’s a real desire for change. There’s a need for it, and there’s a push, but to be honest, the industry needs to do better at making avenues accessible to people who may not have been able to do it before.
“We’re oversaturated with a certain type of performer, like highlighting the upper middle-class public-school man, because they’ve always known how to get into the industry. What I think we need to start doing is making change from the ground level – doing productions like this, allowing people to see themselves represented on stage.”
She added, “Kyle, for example, is a working class black boy f r o m west London who didn’t have anyone who was an actor in his family. It’s really important to see people like me – a regional girl from Wales who had no avenues into acting at all – being able to do it, so that others know they can do it too.
“If the industry as a whole makes itself more accessible to people who maybe don’t have actors in their family, or don’t have producers or directors as their aunties and uncles, that’s when we’re going to be able to see some real, actual active change.”
Describing her journey, Khan said, “I’m from Cardiff. I don’t have any actors in my family, though my cousin has just started acting. My mum is Kashmiri, and she is mixed race as well. I came into acting later in life.
It was never really a profession I thought was possible. I associated acting with famous people on screen and celebrities, rather than seeing it as a profession. But I always loved it. I received a scholarship to a drama school to do a Young Actor Studio course at Royal Welsh. I was taught by working actors who were teaching on the weekends and then performing in plays. These were people working at the RSC and the National Theatre… acting suddenly became a much more accessible option for me. Seeing people who were making a living from acting made me feel like it was something that I could do.”
Khan said her parents were not keen on her dream to be an actress as they wanted a “secure and stable” profession.
Another still from rehearsal
“My mum wanted me to become a solicitor. I got the grades to do that, but I had to be quite firm and say I didn’t want to pursue that career. Now my mum is my number one fan and my biggest supporter, though she still finds the acting profession terrifying. It really makes me want to work hard for her. I knew she’d love me no matter what I chose to do, and she just wanted to support whatever path I took,” she added.
Asked what her advice would be to future Asian talent, Khan said, “Do it. It’s going to be really, really hard, but make sure you have a fulfilled life outside of it. The opportunity is there for the taking. I wish there was more representation, but the more of us there are, the better it’s going to be. Don’t be afraid of it just because no one else in your family has done it before. That was something that I really had to grapple with – just because no one else in your family does it doesn’t mean that you can’t do it.”
Romeo and Juliet will run at Bristol Old Vic from next Wednesday (12) to April 5 and at Hackney Empire from April 23 to 26.
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A still from rehearsal
The cast of Marriage Material in key moments from the play, including Avita Jay, Kiran Landa, Omar Malik, Irfan Shamji and Anoushka Deshmukh
Sathnam Sanghera’s 'Marriage Material' adapted into bold new play on conformity
The play Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel of the same name, which first came out in 2013.
She is lucky to have Iqbal Khan direct Marriage Material. The play, a co-production with the Birmingham Rep, is set in the late 1960s. Mr and Mrs Bains (played by Jaz Singh Deol and Avita Jay) run a corner shop in Wolverhampton. Their younger daughter, Surinder (Anoushka Deshmukh), is 16, her sister Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) is just a bit older.
They have a neighbour, Patwant Dhanda (Irfan Shamji), who, as we shall soon see, is not a very pleasant man. In fact, he comes across just as racist as Enoch Powell, who represented Wolverhampton South West for the Tories from 1950 to 1974.
It will be recalled this was a time when Sikhs working on the buses were told they couldn’t wear a turban. That was a hard-fought battle that had to be won.
The Bains, meanwhile, simply want to get their girls married off.
Nothing new here, I thought.
What makes the tale different is that the plot twists and turns down the generations. Mr Dhanda, who has the makings of a paedophile, makes a pitch for one of the girls when Mr Bains dies early in the play. “A life with no man in the house is no life,” he informs the newly widowed Mrs Bains.
Mr Dhanda has a wife but she has returned to India so he considers himself to be a free man.
Surinder’s English teacher from school, Miss Flanagan (Celeste Dodwell), who is also head of the fifth form, tells Mrs Bains about her daughter: “I don’t want to embarrass you, but she is bright. Ridiculously bright.”
She adds: “Mrs Bains, I think it would be a pity if Surinder didn’t stay on at school.” The initial response from Mrs Bains is not encouraging: “Too much education makes people’s brains get mixed up, they don’t sleep at night…”
But she is finally persuaded that Surinder should be allowed to stay on for a while longer before being married off.
Mr Bains was very old school. When Surinder confides she would one day like to be “a somebody”, he is amused that “my daughter wants to be a somebody”.
“Like you,” she tells her father.
Mr Bains consoles his daughter: “We will find a somebody for you to marry.”
At the point of a possible marriage, however, Surinder is sweet-talked by chocolate salesman Jim Wilson (Tommy Belshaw) into running away with him. They share a love of literature, and he calls her “Sue Bains”. But the relationship does not end well.
Once she has left, Surinder is written off as “dead” by her family. The story that is circulated is that she was only 16 when she was killed in a car crash. That’s better than to let on that she ran off with a white man.
By the time she is reconciled with her sister towards the end of the play, a great deal has changed. Kamaljit married Tanvir Banga (Omar Malik), a young man who helped out in the Bains’ corner shop. When the two sisters meet again, Tanvir has also died. But he and Kamaljit had a son, Arjan Banga (Jaz Singh Deol doubles up for this role after the death of Mr Bains). He has come home after his father’s death to help his mother who is still running the family corner shop.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhanda’s business has prospered. He now has a son, Ranjit Dhanda (the role is taken by Omar Malik after Tanvir’s death), and he is nearly as unpleasant as his father.
Arjan has an English fiancée, Claire (Celeste Dodwell). In London, Arjan worked as a creative director. But after deciding to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, he decides he cannot marry Claire because she is white. In other words, Asians are not free of racism, either. Happily, at the end, the couple are reconciled.
As for Surinder, she parted company with Jim Wilson after realising he was all talk, depended on her for money and had failed to earn a penny from his literary pretensions. She had prospered, though, as a hotel owner and had been transformed in time into a well-groomed businesswoman. After being tracked down by Arjan, she decides to return to her roots in Wolverhampton and help Kamaljit run the family corner shop. Perhaps 50 years had passed during the passage of the play.
Being subjected to racism turned some Asians into racists themselves. The word goreh (white person) is repeatedly spat out with venom. Maybe it is worth remembering the play’s audience isn’t exclusively Asian – white folk are watching as well. And maybe some of the toilet humour ridiculing white people, which always makes me cringe, could be cut out.
In Sanghera’s novel, there is a quote from Enoch Powell’s speech in November 1968: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact, he is a west Indian or an Asian still... he will by the very nature of things have lost one country without gaining another, lost one nationality without acquiring a new one. Time is running out against us and them. With the lapse of a generation or so we shall at last have succeeded – to the benefit of nobody – in reproducing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’ the haunting tragedy of the US.”
In Marriage Material, where the acting is marvellous (apart from Mr Dhanda’s Indian mannerisms and accent being overdone) we do travel across a couple of generations.
There is a scene when Tanvir rejects Mr Dhanda’s vision of creating a little Punjab in Wolverhampton.
Mr Dhanda wants to take over the Bains’ corner shop and is putting pressure on Tanvir to sign the papers. He says: “In this country, money is the path to freedom.”
“Sign, please,” he instructs Tanvir. “We must make sure our children learn to behave nicely, according to our rules.”
He insists: “We maintain our identity so we can be ourselves.”
Tanvir disagrees: “We can be us here. With the goreh.”
Dhanda warns him: “Then we will be inviting chaos.”
Tanvir’s comment is telling: “You sound like Enoch.”
Kamaljit, who is expecting a baby with her husband Tanvir, says: “I would like my child to grow up knowing the history of the Gurus and to read the Granth Sahib. And to love their culture.”
Tanvir tells his wife: “I would like my child to go to the finest schools, to cheer for England in the World Cup and eat Yorkshire pudding on a Sunday.”
Kamaljit sets out a dream that has perhaps come to pass with many third and fourth generation British Asians: “Maybe our child can do both.” Much, much later, in a throwback to the past, we learn of Surinder’s O-level results: “Biology A, Chemistry A, English Language A, English Literature A, French A, History B, Latin A, Mathematics A, Physics A…”
Kamaljit tells her younger sister: “Never mind about the B.”
And that is quintessentially Asian. Their acting is outstanding.
Marriage Material is at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until June 21, and at the Birmingham Rep from June 25-July 5