The play is about four brown girls sharing their different experiences, growing up in London, using a mix of spoken word, dance and acting showcasing a variety of emotions but ultimately sisterhood
The media and its portrayal of people of colour (POC) has always been, to some degree, questionable. Throughout the years; shows, movies, news and entertainment, often depict certain POC with negative stereotypes.
POC often depict the side character as opposed to the main character, take Ivy from Disney’s Good Luck Charlie, or Dionne from Clueless. They do not really have their own storyline, but instead support the main character’s development.
In particular, South Asian women are seen rarely in the media, and if and when they are; they are portrayed with “humorous” but often harmful clichés.
The stereotypes vary but can include: the smart and academic best friend with strict parents, like Baljeet from Phineas and Ferb. Or the gossiping Asian Aunty, like Mrs Malik from the hit sitcom, Citizen Khan.
The Asian that’s forgotten their roots, in other words, a “coconut”. A step further, is the white saviour trope, where the brown girl needs rescuing by the white man, ultimately liberating her. An example of this, is the Nadia-Guzman relationship from the Spanish series, Elite.
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All of these damaging notions of colonialism, inferiority and exoticism are flipped on its head with this powerful play, ‘Brown Girl Noise’. The play that tackles these clichés whilst educating and celebrating British South Asian culture.
I watched the show at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. Kaya Uppal, wrote and starred in the play intertwining comedy, drama, love and more all in one.
The play begins with four South Asian girls waiting in a casting room, to audition for the role of Priti Patel. As they wait to be called in, they share their opinions on the labels that have been placed on them throughout their careers.
The quartet are four distinct characters all with contradicting personalities. All characters that resonate with brown girls in society.
Like, the comedic brown girl, hiding her upset with abruptness and wit; the timid brown girl not wanting to step out of line; the sassy, spiritual brown girl concealing her feelings of “not being brown enough” with rudeness; and the outgoing, sociable brown girl who wants everyone to feel welcome, whilst battling her own traumas.
The play then continues from the girls bonding and disagreeing over the typecasts they have faced, to introducing multiple chapters of different underrepresented South Asian stories.
Some of the chapters include: Snow Brown, reimagining the Disney tale Snow White. The characters allude to the problem of unrealistic, Western beauty standards in this chapter.
They also perform their own version of Love Island; highlighting the use of POC in the show as mere tokenism. In addition, they take on Horrible Histories; spotlighting unknown but yet powerful brown women in history.
Behind every chapter was a moral and message to the real issues that brown girls face, like colourism, tokenism, and racism. One emotional chapter was on consent and trauma with the concept of shame and silence interwoven in that segment.
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Whilst every chapter had its own message, the transitions between the audition room and the role play could have been tighter. The audience at times were left a bit confused with some of the underdeveloped chapters. The ending was met with a realisation from the four heroines, but did feel slightly rushed.
However, the piece still delivers a compelling and essential outlook. The performance embraced the highs and lows of British South Asian culture. The consistency was clear with brown girls needing to let go of negative stereotypes and reclaim their identity with strength and hope.
Whilst the show has now finished, I do hope it returns for another run.
