Safiyya Ingar plays Asha in the world première of Sonali Bhattacharyya’s Two Billion Beats coming to The Orange Tree Theatre from 5th February to 5th March 2022.
Two Billion Beats was originally written by Sonali as a short play for the OT’s Inside/Outside livestreams in 2021; the play has now been further developed into a full-scale production, directed by Nimmo Ismail
You’re starring in Two Billion Beats at The Orange Tree Theatre, what can you tell us about the play?
The play is honestly just a really relatable story to anyone from the diaspora community about living in a society that we are born and raised in and where we constantly feel like we don’t belong. It will relate to a number of people.
It’s about two sisters and their journey together, at the heart of it – there’s so much to unpack from that, with conflict, sisterly bonding, and worries. But in amongst that it’s also bringing to light a lot of things that are happening nowadays in terms of society and politics and young people growing up to be activists and claiming their voices.
What was it about Sonali Bhattacharyya’s script that made you so keen to be a part of it?
For me it was the flow of it and the honesty of it – it doesn’t hold back, it’s very much the energy of a generation that can absolutely lead the future into what it should be. It gives me a sense of hope – I read it and was like, this is what people need to be. They need to be bold and loud and unapologetic.
Seeing my character, Asha, a South Asian female-identifying character go through this journey herself, and with what happens in the play, she comes out the other side of it with her own voice still intact – it’s one of the best things I’ve ever read to be honest. It’s refreshing to see, and representative of what I wish I was like at seventeen. I’m like what Asha is in the play now, and I wish I was like her when I was that age. I would have gotten so much done. This is the kind of story that I want people to hear. Every part of me was screaming out to tell this story because people need to hear it.
How does the play reflect growing up in Britain as a South Asian woman of colour?
The play is so relevant when it talks about these subjects, and how exhausting it is [to have those conversations]. That’s the biggest part of it, is that exhaustion and that fight that we constantly need to have. I’d like to say that it’s gotten better over the years, but it doesn’t, and if anything over the last two years it’s gotten a bit worse. It reflects a lot of what it’s like for diaspora communities and people of the global majority, in terms of attitudes towards themselves and how we’re changing the narrative and some people don’t really like that. But the narrative needs to be addressed, because the narrative is the problem, and we need to shatter that.
For me as a Muslim South Asian person this is so important because it’s giving a voice to people who, when we’re asked for our opinion, we get told to be quiet, or even in our families we’re challenged, in our own communities we’re challenged. So, to have this and to have Sonali as a South Asian woman writing the characters who do challenge it.
I know so many people, not just women, whatever your gender, if you’re part of the diaspora community, come and see this. You’ll have something from your own community that will reflect and ping out as an argument you constantly need to have, or a slur you’re constantly called, or a question you’re constantly confronted with about Britain’s history. We are now really having these frank conversations about how distressing they were, how disgusting they were, how they created generational trauma. And it isn’t going to just wash away – this denial of the British empire and what they did to our countries and these communities, it needs to be spoken about, and attitudes need to change!
How have rehearsals been going so far?
It doesn’t even feel like work! It is so much fun. Obviously, there are dark sides to the play, and we’re having conversations that are difficult and traumatic. In a slightly screwed up way, we all know and have experienced these conversations, these arguments. When we’re in spaces like this where we acknowledge and understand each other it doesn’t feel like trauma, it feels like sharing an experience (that is still traumatising), but we’re speaking about it from a point of view where we feel validated.
In this room I feel validated, I feel acknowledged, I feel taken care of, and I feel empowered to use my energy. The team are so collaborative and so welcoming and open to all of our ideas, both mine and Anoushka’s, who plays Bettina. There’s never a point where I feel like I can’t say something, or I won’t say something. That’s the whole point of this play too – acknowledging that you have a voice and using it! The team very much reflects the ethos of the play in rehearsals.
What’s it been like working with director, Nimmo Ismail, who is one of The Stage 25 theatre-makers of the future?
She’s a don! I’ll be completely frank – I wasn’t aware of her work before this project. People of colour in this industry have to hustle and make our voices heard, so when I met her for the first time and she was like a Muslim Hijabi woman, I was like: I’m working with the best here, with the people that I need and I want to work with.
There is a hierarchy in this industry, and we have to claw our way to the top. When I’m sitting amongst the people that I’m looking at and going: oh my god. I remembered when I auditioned for her, I just said to her, “I really don’t want to be awkward or weird but I’m so happy that I’m auditioning for you, as a Black Muslim woman”. So, when they offered me the part there was no doubt in my mind: I was like yes, of course, why would I not? I was just so excited, seeing all these promising people being given these chances and then “bringing it”, it’s great.
What would you say to anyone thinking of coming to see Two Billion Beats?
Be ready for a lot of laughs, bring your siblings! Have those conversations and please just have fun. The last thing I want is for people to think this play is just about this deep social political commentary. It’s not just that, it’s about a deep familial relationship, it’s about competitiveness, about sibling rivalry, about school kids, Tik Tok, it’s all there. Come and have fun with us!
Two Billion Beats, starring Safiyya Ingar, is at The Orange Tree Theatre from 5th February 2022.
Comments 2