Maimuna Memon on Post-Olivier Drought and Celebrity Casting
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- Maimuna Memon won an Olivier award for her performance in Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, but says the year that followed was 'rather quiet' and 'tough,' prompting her to travel to Galway to be with her fiddle-playing mother
- Memon is now starring in a new staging of her semi-autobiographical gig-theatre musical Manic Street Creature — first performed at the 2022 Edinburgh fringe — about singer-songwriter Ria supporting her partner Daniel through bipolar disorder
- Memon criticizes celebrity casting as 'brutal right now' for working actors, arguing it reduces available jobs and damages the integrity of playwrights' work by drawing audiences for the star rather than the writing
- Her dream role is Dot in Sunday in the Park With George — a part Ariana Grande is set to play in London next year, prompting Memon to laugh: 'how can you possibly compete with that?'
- Memon grew up in Darwen, Lancashire, a 'very, very white area' where her mixed Irish-Pakistani family experienced racist vandalism, including the 'P-word' sprayed on their fence
- Memon's warning that new writers aren't being given enough opportunities came days before National Theatre director Indhu Rubasingham issued a public warning on the same issue
Why it matters: Memon, a 33-year-old Olivier winner, is spotlighting the 'brutal' conditions working actors and new writers face, joining National Theatre director Indhu Rubasingham in sounding alarms. Her tongue-in-cheek admission that she can't 'compete with' Ariana Grande for her dream role underscores how celebrity casting has reshaped the British theatre pipeline she came up through.
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