Exodus hits home as plot blurs line between fact and fiction
WRITER NADAH-RAJAH REVEALS HOW SCRIPT WAS PRESCIENT ABOUT REAL-LIFE POLITICAL EVENTS
A FEMALE British Asian home secretary whose tough immigration policies would’ve stopped her own parents coming to the country is the key character in the National Theatre of Scotland’s new play.
Exodus is the brainchild of Uma NadaRajah, who started writing the play in 2018 when Sajid Javid was home secretary. In an interview with Eastern Eye, she said, “It was around the time of the 2015 migrant crisis (when more than 900,000 migrants arrived in Europe 2015) that the idea came to me.
“And then when Sajid Javid was home secretary, we had increasing media stories (of migrants) and I noticed how politicians were using tragedies for political gain and power.
“It was dark and yet compelling, especially for people who are migrants.”
Nadah-Rajah is of Sri Lankan Tamil heritage. Her family fled Sri Lanka during the civil war. She was born in Canada after her GP mother took up a job there, but has spent most of her life in Scotland.
Though the play has links to her own story, Nadah-Rajah insisted the role of the fictional home secretary of Asiya Rao in
Exodus is not based on current home secretary Priti Patel and denied it was a conscious criticism of her immigration policies. “It was just a happy coincidence,” the playwright said. “I decided to make the character female because it tied in with the themes of the play more strongly.”
Exodus is described as a “farcical political satire that looks at the posturing and absurdity of contemporary British politics, where the line between current facts and fiction is blurred and exposes systematic deception and indifference to human suffering”.
Aryana Ramkhalawon plays the home secretary who – in her bid to become the country’s leader – prepares to make a major policy announcement that will establish her as the front-runner.
Alongside her cut-throat and calculating advisor, Phoebe Bernays (played by Sophie Steer), the women are determined to keep their eyes on the prize, no matter the cost, even if it’s a human one.
Ramkhalawon told Eastern Eye it’s become harder to do political satire because of the behaviour of politicians.
“There have been so many changes to the script because what was originally written did in fact take place” she said.
“It’s really hard to satirise politicians nowadays because they are border lining on the edge of what you think would be reality. “But it’s so timely right now because it reflects the political climate – especially with who is going to be the next prime minister.”
Nadah-Rajah admitted it was “daunting” having the play run in the middle of a real-life leadership race to determine the next leader of the country.
“It’s a crazy time because of the backdrop of the leadership contest, but with these things you never – we’ve been planning the play for almost a year,” she said.
“It’s daunting, because you realise you have a show that’s is going to be able to speak to the present moment in front of a live audience; it’s terrifying.” She added: “The scary thing is that it’s like life imitates art in the way that politicians in Westminster have almost come to imitate the show, but the show is meant to be a critique of this culture.”
Ramkhalawon described
Exodus as a ‘wild ride’ with a ‘mishmash of genres.’ The 34-year-old has starred in plays such as GHBoy
(Charing Cross Theatre), When the Crows Visit (Kiln Theatre),
The Funeral Director
(English Touring Theatre) and appeared on TV shows such as
and
However, she said the complex role of Asiya was one she was eager to tackle. “What attracted me to the character is it’s really nice to play a powerful, intelligent woman in a high status role. So, as much as she might go on a bit of a downward spiral of morality at times, she’s a strong woman with different shades to her character and I haven’t really played that on stage,” said Ramkhalawon.
“Asiya is such a polished character in front of the media, but we get to see behind the scenes and all her insecurities and just some absolute slapstick events and how she deals
with that.
“And, also, she’s got her political adviser, Phoebe, who’s this incredibly intelligent, but incredibly manipulative person as well. So it’s really lovely to see behind the scenes to that polished politician that we’re so used to seeing.”
Asiya’s struggles with her own identity are also explored in the play. As a child of Ugandan Indian immigrants, is she British or is she Asian?
Ramkhalawon said, “She sees herself as 100 per cent British, but when she wants to push her agenda she needs to be like ‘of course, my parents are from Uganda’.
“But then she makes decisions on other people who, like her parents, were but are not British in her eyes. That’s a really interesting dilemma to be put in.”
Both Nadah-Rajah and Ramkhalawon are women of colour who are making strides in the world of theatre and breaking down barriers for others.
Nadah-Rajah combines work as a playwright with working as a nurse. Her career blossomed thanks to the support of the National Theatre of Scotland.
She said: “I saw an ad for a six-month placement with the National Theatre for a person of colour. Then there was another placement for a political comedy writer.
“I really wanted to do the political comedy writer placement, but didn’t have the confidence to apply. But they told me not to go for the person of colour role and to apply for the political comedy writer, which was really cool because sometimes you put yourself in that file (person of colour) but I was really encouraged by the people that were involved.”
Ramkhalawon paid tribute to Asian theatre companies such as Kali and Tamasha that have given platforms to artists of colour, but said she felt mainstream theatre shows needed to implement more blind casting. “When I initially started you were either the complete token Asian in a story or what you were auditioning for, the character wasn’t Asian, and they were just like, ‘oh, no, this isn’t politically correct (having an Asian playing a nonAsian role). I would like to see colourblind casting, no ticking a box,” she said.
■ Exodus will be opening at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh – Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022 – previewing at Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling and touring to Eastgate Theatre, Peebles; An Lanntair, Stornoway; CentreStage, Kilmarnock; Lemon Tree, Aberdeen; Tron Theatre, Glasgow and Mull Theatre from Sunday (31) to September 21, 2022.