How To be Hopeful Episode 15 "This time, there is a listening happening"

This episode I speak with Natasha Magigi, an incredible actor who has worked with the RSC, the Globe Theatre and is an Artistic Associate of Teatro Vivo. We covered a lot! Positive change in the industry, the importance of storytelling, Black Lives Matters ("a movement, not a moment") , defining success on your own terms, the comfort and importance of finding a community so you know you are not suffering alone and you have support. 

Tash talks abut her surprise at being cast as Hero in "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Globe She says didn’t expect to get it because  “I hadn’t really seen fat women in love story roles that weren’t comic… " and how broader casting is a source of hope too. Tash has gone on to play many roles in Shakespeare including Juliet and has toured the world doing so. 

 We talk about the life of an actor and the importance of "defining success on your own terms... if you are doing what you love, so this is success" and how although there is much work still to do, positive changes are happening, Tash talks about the many things that are buoying her : the conversations about the stories being told and who is telling the stories: the demands to have more women (with the 50: 50 campaign) the conversations about racial diversity, colour blind /colour conscious casting, ableism, the conversations about  age in the industry "We need to see more older women on stage and on screen because women don’t die when they turn 40" 

Tash speaks about her mum taking her to see Jesse Jackson speak in Harlsden when she was 6 years old "I remember being in a room with lots of black adults crying and singing "We Shall Overcome" and now I am 30 something, I am still surrounded by black adults wanting to be heard,  older than me, younger than me, and children screaming to be heard, and I feel like his time there is a listening happening. How long do we have to keep shouting to be heard ?"

We speak about learning about each other by hearing each others stories, because we have so much in common "We love our families, we love each other, we just need to love all of each other"

To find out more about Natasha's latest show (coming up August 202)  go here: 

You can connect with her on socials here:

twitter:@TashaGigi

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tashagigi

Natasha Magigi spent the majority of 2019 touring the world with Pericles, The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night as part of the Globe on Tour. She has performed in a number of productions at Shakespeare’s Globe, including Comus – A Masque in Honour of Chastity at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Maria in Twelfth Night and Hero in Much Ado in the main theatre, and Sonnet Walks and Shakespeare Within the Abbey.Other recent theatre includes Don Quixote with the RSC in the West End, The Country Wife at Chichester Festival Theatre and Lady Windermere’s Fan as part of Classic Spring’s year at the Vaudeville theatre, directed by Kathy Burke and starring Jennifer Saunders.

More soon! 

Love Bernadette

My book "How To Be Hopeful" published by Elliot and Thompson is due out September 2020. You can pre-order the book in these places:

WATERSTONES > https://bit.ly/2VTGvgg

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