An interview with Ony Uhiara, who plays Shakira Boothe

8 August 2017

Tell us about Ony

Shakira’s a mother and a doctor. She’s a very determined, brave and focused person and I think where she finds herself at this point in life, she’s searching for something. She’s possibly also running away from something and she makes this really big decision to travel to Syria with her son. It’s a really big decision in her life and then through the course of the story I think she experiences a lot of things that she, even though she’s a person that likes to over-plan, that I don’t think anyone could ever plan for.

 

How did you research for the character?

Getting ready to play this character, I really wanted to get a sense of what it was like for somebody that has been to a place like Syria. So I was able to find some testimonies from women that had travelled to Syria and come back. That was a good foundation to start from. I spent some time in various mosques around London just quietly observing or people watching where there was such a peaceful and welcoming atmosphere. When you’re dealing with this subject matter, it was really important for me to always have that core of where the character is coming from so to be able to tap into to that kind of dedication. I talked with Peter about where we thought Shakira was coming from, her background and the things that drive her so it was good to get to get that time with Peter and find that we had the same kind of understanding or perception of the character that he’d created for me to inhabit and bring life.

 

You spend a lot of the time veiled. How did that affect how you approached the role?

I like to wear like scarves and head wraps and things but there a huge difference in the way that you feel, there’s a difference in the way that people interact with you so I wanted to reflect that. And then there’s the technicalities of acting and conveying the story, because you know that you have to maintain this level of storytelling when you’ve more or less just got this little window around the eyes. Sometimes it felt a bit like Greek theatre where you’re like wearing masks or even like Japanese Noh Theatre when they’re on stage but the eyes do a lot of conveying meaning and feelings. We found some little tricks to do so that I could feel confident that the camera was going to be able to see my reactions or what I was trying to say. It didn’t feel inhibiting. Sometimes I felt a lot of freedom and empowerment and a nice sensuality to it with all that material flapping around!  

 

And you had to learn to speak Arabic!

It was one of the biggest challenges of being part of this project for me as my character is fluent in Arabic. It was a big undertaking but we had some really good teachers. I mean my mind would like melt a lot of the time! But I really like languages and I like to think that I have a good ear. It was just repetition, repetition all the time. I started off learning it phonetically and then I used to think of it as if I was learning a song. There were certain times on set when it definitely felt like your brain is split in two in a way because you’re trying to think in Arabic and you’re trying to think in English and then we were in Spain and there’s another language going on so there were definite challenges but I really enjoyed it. Sometimes some of the other cast members whose first tongue was Arabic would forget that I don’t actually speak Arabic and say something to me expecting a response!

 

What journey does your character go on?

There is a real difference to what she imagined life was going to be like, living in “The State”, compared to the realities of when she’s actually there. A lot of things are as she had imagined them and then there’s just certain rules, conventions, ways of interacting with people that don’t necessarily sit well with her as a person in relation to her faith. Isaac, who is Shakira’s son, and like her core really, she sets a lot of high standards for him and at the beginning of the story they’re just this unit - the two of them against the world. And then they go on such a heart-breaking story.

 

How did you feel about taking on the project?

When the script first came through it was one of those reads that were very easy to go through because the events just keep falling out of each other and the relationships and the characters are so intricate. It would have been naïve of me to go into a project like this when the topic is so sensitive to not think about how it affects people’s lives and what the project is actually trying to achieve. My personal drive in wanting to be part of the project was how important awareness is. That it can help bring clarification and possibly may open people’s understanding of things.

 

How was life on set in Spain?

Another great element about this project was working in Spain. We had some amazing locations that were really beautiful, and it was nice to have rehearsals and then be able to travel. You’ve been picturing in your head what the scenes are going to be like but when you get to the location you just go “yes that’s it!” And I think that the locations, the landscape really just like adds to this huge story that we’re trying to tell - the backdrop that’s for many people a place where they want to escape from or the place they want to run to so I think the importance of getting those locations added so much to the project. We had such a warm welcome as well with the Spanish crew – they’re amazing! And as you know the weather always helps!

 

How was working on set for the first time?

I think working with Nana has been amazing really. I remember we had our recall audition so we met each other at and I think we just clicked from there really. He’s just got skills and he’s funny and we just play off each other really well I think.

 

What do you feel the female characters’ experiences bring to the story?

I think what’s interesting is the balance between the male and female experience and also between different female perspectives. Ushna and Shakira are on completely different paths, looking for different things and then you also have strong female characters like Umm Salama. I think it’s telling of Peter that he’s that he’s been able to create those differences – so that not all the female characters feel trodden upon or empowered. I was lucky to find some religious leaflets and things like that, that pertain to the women’s role in the dīn and the men’s role in the dīn and I think that helped me understand the differences of the two genders in the religion. I think it was important to see why things might happen to women and where it really tussles with them, where their faith overrides their gender and where sometimes it doesn’t.