Image credit: https://arconline.co.uk/whats-on/eshaan-akbar-the-pretender/
"I want to highlight how comedy can make someone laugh, fundamentally, before it changes their minds.”
Hi all!
Our three Directors went on a trip to see Eshaan Akbar perform in Hemel Hempstead a few of weekends ago. It was quite an astonishing show - using the medium of comedy to raise some hard questions about identity and race.
Eshaan is British. He’s of Bangladeshi and Pakistani ancestry, and was born and brought up in the UK. He's also a hearing aid user which contributed to the theme of intersectionality being explored on the evening. There was plenty of audience involvement - let's just say we were glad we weren't sat on the front row!
Some of the anecdotes have really stayed with me. He talks about being invited to do voiceover work for Spitting Image. Yet he is only asked to voice personalities such as Rishi Sunak, Sajid Javid and Alok Sharma. Hopefully you have noticed that these are all Asian MPs.
This feels inherently discriminatory when he was born and bred in the UK, and - to put it bluntly - has an English accent. Yet Eshaan flips this and invites us to consider the reverse. It is a well-established trope now that we only use Black and minority ethnic actors to voice Black and minority ethnic roles. The juxtaposition of these thoughts provoked reflection, without ever straying into preaching or telling territory.
Should we insist on Black and minority ethnic actors taking on Black and minority ethnic roles? This feels the right thing to do, especially given their under-representation in the media. And yet... I get that this can also pigeon hole actors if applied in reverse. That is, can Black and minority ethnic actors ONLY take on Black and minority roles? Is there a different boundary for screen work vs voice work? What would equality look like?
He builds on this with a similar anecdote, that has stuck in my memory, about The Simpsons' character, Apu. Hopefully most of you are aware of him as a recurring character who runs a shop and who is an Indian immigrant. To my mind, he is a stereotyped character who was played by Hank Azaria (a white American actor). The character has been criticised on both these counts, and Azaria no longer plays Apu.
The question then posed was whether Eshaan would be better qualified to take on that role. Here I was so struck by how comedy can push deeply on these sensitive issues. And the commentary really shone a light on why it is so unhelpful to group this community using the acronym BAME. By the current order of things, Eshaan would get a tick - yes go ahead and voice this character. However... he's of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage. He's open throughout the show about the messages about Indians that he has been brought up with. ("I f***ing hate Narendra Modi", I think was one of them). In what world would it be less problematic for Eshaan to be voicing a character that is (allegedly) poking fun at Indians?
Thought-provoking stuff. I really admired how the comedy took us on a journey of discomfort and questioning deep-seated beliefs, whilst making us laugh at the same time. I suspect the resulting connection with the audience allowed him to push us a bit further, and I can only hope that recounting these stories to you does a minuscule of the same.
Rox x