Before he heads out of Stratford to a bright future, Dee Ahluwalia talks about playing Karim in the dazzling Buddha of Suburbia at the RSC
Rather incredibly, The Buddha of Suburbia is only Dee Ahluwalia’s second stage appearance. He’s dazzling in the central role of narrator Karim. Author Hanif Kureishi partially based the character on himself for his semi-autobiographical 1990 novel, about growing up in 1970s suburbia. Before Emma Rice’s brilliant production ends this Saturday, Gill Sutherland caught up with Dee, 28, before he heads out of Stratford to an undoubtedly bright future.
It is such a bold and joyous show, what’s the vibe like in the company?
The first time the company ever met, Emma [director Rice] had us playing games all day – literally ball games. The idea is that you build a company with spirit and the idea of keeping the ball alive together. It’s so important for a piece like this because where it’s so fast-paced and everyone has to hit their cues and be singing off the same hymn sheet. It’s very collaborative. I’ve got the easiest job, I just play Karim whereas everyone else is coming in and doing all sort lots of incredible stuff, there are very Bollywood moments.
You say you’ve got it easy, but the focus on you – and it opens with you addressing the audience standup-like. That must be intense.
It’s funny that you bring it up because it’s always the most important part for me. Throughout rehearsals I’d go through ebbs and flows of like “I’ve got it, this is going to be great!” or “This is never going to work!”. And then the first preview came, walking out to the mic, seeing actual faces rather than empty seats, and as soon as we said the first bit – “hello” and hearing that response [everyone is encouraged to shout hello back], it was electrifying. It was one of the best experiences of my life. The whole play is so exuberant, but with that first bit you almost lure the audience into a false sense of “this play is going to be very simple”, but it’s not, there’s so much going on. So, it’s my favourite bit in the play, I just love it.
Karim is very assured and charming, is that something that comes naturally to you?
I’m not like Karim – I don’t automatically walk into a room and think people are going to like me. I have to get into Karim’s mindset. He doesn’t feel like he needs to win anyone over because he’s so open. And it’s like, “why not come with me on this journey”. That’s the kind of energy to have as Karim, which is really amazing.
You’ve got a masters in economics – so there’s a story there! What was your route into acting?
I went to a state grammar school in Reading, and did theatre studies A-level. There were five of us in a year group of 200. Drama wasn’t something people did. Coming out of school being an actor wasn’t really a thing – so I went and did a business degree at Nottingham followed by a masters in economics in London. When I was in my final year at Nottingham, me and my friends used to go out a lot, get drunk and talk about wanting to be actors. We never did anything about it, then one of my friends heard about an open cast call for a Channel Four show directed by Peter Kosminsky. I went along with no idea what it entailed. It was a cold read with Kate Bone from Nina Gold [top notch casting directors]. I just remember doing it and for the first time feeling “oh, this feels like what I’ve always wanted to do”. In the end I didn’t get it but they were amazing and offered me support. Naively I thought I would finish my masters and then get acting work – it didn’t work out like that, but Kate and Nina advised me to get some training. So I applied for a one-year MA in acting at Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
Was there anything in your early life that sort of triggered that interest?
No, not really. I didn’t know about National Youth Theatre, I didn’t know about Central I had no idea about these things even existing. It had just always a pipe dream, like wanting to be a footballer. It just didn’t seem possible, but drama was definitely my favourite thing to do.And what about your home life? I was born in Slough, and I grew up in Reading. I’m actually adopted. My incredible parents adopted me when I was adopted at six months old. It was a closed adoption, so I don’t know much about my birth parents at all. I know that my birth mother was young, and couldn’t have me, so I was in foster care. Then my parents, Jag and Sats, who are like my soulmates, brought me to live in Twyford, not far from Reading. My dad’s in business – he started in care homes and now he’s in property and my mum owns her own pharmaceutical company – she’s an absolute star; really intelligent, driven and determined. Growing up was a great experience, surrounded by a big extended family – all my mum’s brothers and sisters live in and around Reading. Mostly the family are working class Asian, and my school was middle-class Caucasian. So it was all this crazy melting pot.
There are similarities with Karim’s story?
When you’re a teenager, you always look to find a reason for why you’re always so crazy all the time and my thing was that I’m adopted. So when I was a teenager, I felt like I was searching for an identity, much like Karim – which really drew me to the role in the first place. I was like this adopted kid who like didn’t know anything about my birth family. I didn’t have any siblings, my family didn’t adopt anyone else. I had so many pockets of people around me and, much like Karim, tried to find myself through them: am I more like my cousins, working class Asians? Or am I more like these clever middle-class kids at school? Or more like my mum’s friend’s kids, who live a more luxurious life? It was this whole thing, with me in the middle of it, thinking “I don’t know who I am”, so it was a weird time. Looking back I think I struggled, but it was also the most magical thing, because I think I really questioned things early on: about what is life about and who am I – and through that, I found a strength in myself, in knowing who I was as I went into my twenties.
Are you much more assured in who you are now you are 28?
Yes, I would definitely say so. My early twenties were very chaotic; I used to go out a lot, I was quite neurotic and stuff. The first year of trying acting and doing my masters was genuinely one of the worst years of my life. It was like a culmination of all my worst insecurities as a person and as an actor, I almost felt like, this is what it’s meant to be like as an actor: neurotic and crazy. An awful year but then it turned out to be the best – it was like a switch going off: “OK I need to sort myself out”. I made some fundamental changes and through that, maybe the last three or four years, I became very happy with myself and where I am and it’s really fed back into my acting.
With that quest for identity, do you feel a need to find out about your biological parents?
It’s a conversation I always have with my girlfriend, Dalia. Maybe at the point where we get married and have kids, then there might be that curiosity, but I don’t have the yearning for it at the moment – I feel happy with the way things are and my parents are the ones who raised me and have given me so much love.My parents are my foundations that hold me up, and I’d crumble without Dalia. She’s from the US, and we’ve been together since we were 16. Dalia supported me through that journey of losing and finding myself. She works in fashion in London, where we live, but has come up to see the show six times. When she's in the audience I know at least I’m making one person in the audience happy, so job done.
I understand Hanif Kureishi came to rehearsals – how was that?
He came in with his son and carer to two or three rehearsals. That was an incredible experience. He’s incredibly intelligent and a genius writer. Buddha is semi-autobiographical, so it was mad being Karim and meeting him, like an out of body experience. But he was really lovely and it was just great to pick his brain and he got a chance to speak to him and ask him questions about what he thought of the play and what the times were like. He said something that really struck me: Karim’s journey was never about money. It's about needing to get out of the suburbs and find fulfilment, which he finds through acting.
Hanif said recently that although the 1970s, when Buddha is set, had issues with racism it was also a more optimistic time. Big question to finish one – are we in an era of pessimism?
It is strange. I know from my dad, who grew up in Moss Side, Manchester, that it was a lot more dangerous back then.One of the points Hanif makes is that there seemed to be a lot more freedom for teenagers back then. Fashions were big – flares and big hair, but there was an openness – that you could go for what you want. We're more connected now, but the negative of that is it can feel more judgmental. Social media means you feel more constricted, more watched. But for me a South Asian actor, I think we're in a great time. It’s not perfect, but I certainly wouldn't want to be a South Asian actor back in the 70s or even ten years ago, so there’s a flipside. Personally I feel quite optimistic.
