Everything Theatre Reviews, interviews and news for theatre lovers, London and beyond
Azan Ahmed on appearing in Shakespeare Globe’s The Tempest
Each year in the Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank programme at Shakespeare’s Globe, students from Key Stage 3 upwards can experience a Shakespeare text produced especially for young people. This season the play is The Tempest. We were thrilled to get the opportunity to chat about the show with Azan Ahmed, who will be playing Ferdinand.
Hi Azan. It’s a fabulous opportunity to play Ferdinand on the Globe stage. Did you always see yourself as a Shakespearean actor when a small boy?
Azan: Hi Everything Theatre! Lovely to chat to ya. I’m so grateful to be playing Ferdinand, a naive, ship-wrecked Prince trying to find the words to express his deep grief and intense first-love. What a roller-coaster of a part. Growing up, I didn’t really go to the theatre so Shakespeare felt very distant from me, always felt like Shakespeare’s work and I belonged to different ideas of Britain. Until I saw Riz Ahmed’s delivery of Edmund’s speech from King Lear – the way he played with language blew my mind! It felt so alive, relatable and clear – I just wanted to have a go.
You don’t only act, do you? We have to congratulate you for winning the Theatre for Young Audiences Offies Award for Best Writing this year, for Daytime Deewane. Having worked a lot with contemporary spoken word poetry, as in that play, has it been a challenge taking on Shakespeare’s verse, or are there similarities?
Azan: Ah thanks so much! Extremely grateful to the whole Daytime Deewane team; creating an offering of Brown Joy as my first play was special.
It’s an exciting challenge to dance with Shakespeare’s verse. Even with a poetry background I was intimidated at first by all these labels: ‘meter’, ‘iambic’, ‘trochaic’ etc. But I’m learning that with form, comes freedom. Every syllable counts, each image is specific so it’s your job to tune into that and help make a purposeful painting of a story – the outline has already been drawn, actors bring the colour.
I love working with lyrical texts, be it spoken word or Shakespeare because the character’s head and heart are aligned in verse. They speak how they feel. As an actor that’s exhilarating because there’s no hiding. It’s an (intense) gift to embody those emotions and I hope it feels like a gift for the audience too
How has this version of The Tempest been redesigned specifically for young audiences?
Azan: Our version is a neat 90-minutes, so that clarity remains key. Young audiences will know exactly what’s going on in a Shakespeare play without being told what to think. Instead, our version empowers the voices of tomorrow to form their own opinions about Prospero and his actions. What Diane (our director) and the team have done is remarkable. It feels like an exciting, fizzy race against time. The visual, sonic and physical world of our Tempest feels familiar enough for young audiences but different enough for them to critique.
What’s your experience been like in rehearsals with The Tempest company?
Azan: I’m having the best time! This company is so generous. The way we hold space for each other is heart-warming and I truly can’t wait to go to work every day and play. We’re like a group of friends cooking together trying to make the most delicious meal possible.
Especially grateful to director Diane Page and assistant director Danielle Kassaraté for allowing me to bring my whole self to the part. Shakespeare is the king of Western wordplay, I’m an actor of Pakistani heritage; so I want both those things to exist on stage. It’s been really fulfilling to see how Mughal Princes and Urdu poetry have influenced this Ferdinand.
What is your favourite bit about being on the Globe stage?
Azan: It really is an arena of connection. The open air, all the noises around force you to really be present, both with the audience and scene partners. So when you really focus on connecting, you can make someone feel really special at the Globe. As a result of that connection, your performance becomes effortlessly special.
You’ve already done some performances for schools audiences. What have the reactions been like?
Azan: It’s been joyous, unpredictable and uplifting! To hear school audiences roar with laughter, cheer when we triumph or hold their breath in anticipation means we’ve succeeded in welcoming them to this space and these stories.
I always look forward to seeing how teenagers react to the young love between Ferdinand and Miranda.
Personally, it feels like a full-circle moment! My first experience of the Globe was watching a Playing Shakespeare performance 13 years ago.
Thanks so much to Azan for taking the time to chat with us about this amazing project. We wish him many snow-free days in the coming weeks! The Tempest opens for public performances from 18 March to 15 April. Further information and bookings can be found here.
