We had the opportunity to interview the delightful Zahra Newman  during a day off from her one-woman extravaganza at Downstairs Belvoir, in the current production of random.

Zahra has just finished months on stage as Nabulongi, the female lead in Book of Mormon and now turns her incredible gifts to playing 17 different characters in random. She is directed by the highly respected Leticia Caseres.

SAG:    Thank you for taking time out of an exhausting production.  Can I start with the origins? I love the work of your director, Leticia Càceres, ‘Barbara and the Camp Dogs’ is up with my all-time faves.  Was that part of the draw towards this piece, the collaborative nature of that director/ artist relationship?

ZAHRA:              Leticia and I did this work together 8 years ago and we knew even then that we wanted to do it again. We have a really great working relationship and probably what I enjoy most about it is that we’re not afraid to challenge each other or disagree. I think ultimately it makes us better artists because we have to fight really hard for our ideas!

SAG:                    This show is quite a leap of scale, from a huge show like ‘Book of Morman’ to the charming but tiny confines of Belvoir Downstairs. What attracted you to take on such an intimate project?

ZAHRA:              When Leti  and I first did this show we knew we wanted the show to have another life (more life), beyond the audiences who saw it back in 2010. The thing that immediately attracted me to the project when Leticia brought it to me was the form (debbie tucker green’s writing) her very distinct style/vernacular; the piece is essentially a 45 minute beat poem.

Not only was it exciting to imagine that form onstage, but also being a Caribbean person, I was going to get the opportunity to perform work that spoke directly to my heritage. Being able to perform characters who speak and behave in ways that reflect my culture was an amazing opportunity. There weren’t (aren’t) many chances for me to engage with work that has direct connection to my culture – so that was a massive drawcard.

In terms of moving straight from Mormon to Belvoir, it feels amazing! ‘random’ at Belvoir was exactly the kind of work I wanted to do coming out of the mega-marathon commercial environment of music theatre; I couldn’t have asked for a better contrast. I think after a certain amount of time with Mormon it was important for me to get back to a very simple storytelling form, back to basics if you will, and the intimacy and immediacy of the downstairs space at Belvoir is perfect for that.

SAG:                    debbie tucker green is a powerhouse, writing across so many mediums. Was this always the text you wanted to do or were other plays in the decision making mix?

ZAHRA:              I’ve read some of debbie’s other work, and there’s definitely things there that I would love to tackle. But I think for Leticia and I, as well as Eamon (Flack – Artistic Director @ Belvoir), it was really important that this particular project had a second life. We have been trying for years (literally) to align the stars/cosmos and schedules (!) to make it possible for this show to have a life at Belvoir. So from my perspective, this was always the one.

SAG:                    The original work is from 2008, it’s a fast moving world we live in. What makes the themes still so relevant?

ZAHRA:              I think we will always have conversations about grief, how it courses through families, and more widely, how it manifests inside of communities. Historically, society has excused or ‘accepted’ a particular level of tragedy in some communities/pockets of society. I think debbie is really pushing against that notion – the acceptance, complacency, and lack of outrage that seems to surround violence when it touches particular classes/races of people. Often this complacency is due in part to the statistical nature of reporting.

What’s interesting about doing the play again so many years later is that the zeitgeist has shifted quite significantly; things like Black Lives Matter, the Grenfell tower fire, the era of uprising and protest that spanned across many States in the US are more present in the collective consciousness than they were before. I mean to say there is a mainstream awareness of issues/complexities surrounding these communities that wasn’t around when I did the play 8yrs ago – certainly not in Australia.

Also, the fact that there are communities (not only overseas, but also in Aus) that still have very problematic and mistrustful interactions with law enforcement is testament to the fact that the themes of the play are still relevant. I think the fact that a man (Peter Dutton), who very nearly became PM of this country, has routinely generalised an entire continent of peoples and deliberately attributed negative and provocative words like ‘gangs’ to describe young black men in Melbourne is testament to the fact that the themes of the play are still relevant. The fact that these communities feel the need to defend themselves constantly in the face of political provocation such as that is testament to the play’s relevance.

SAG:                    Moving from the thematic to the physical, it’s an athletic feat of performance, 17 characters, what is your process as an actor to key in to each new character?  It is one of those things that fascinates me about acting but I know how hard it is to verbalize something so mysterious and personal.

ZAHRA:              Athletic is definitely the right word! While being slightly mysterious, there is an element (particularly within the form of this play) that is wholly technical. Leticia and I did a lot of work early on drawing very specific and clear images of the different characters – simple gestural and vocal cues that help to define very clearly which character is driving the story at any one moment. I did spend some time in the early stages ‘drilling’ changes from character to character, finding the most economical way to communicate a shift in perspective/shift in narrator; once there is precision inside of the technicality, then you can often find the freedom to play… if that makes sense?

I also think there’s immense support coming from debbie’s writing; she has created such a sharp and focused piece of poetry that I feel very guided by the innate rhythms and shifts inside the text.

SAG:                       Many thanks for answering my questions and best of luck for the season.

ZAHRA:                 Thank you and hopefully you’ll get to come along and see it!

random is running downstairs at Belvoir Street Theatre [Facebook] until November 11 and you can read SAG’s review of the production here.