Sonya Suares chats EMILIA
400 years ago, Emilia Bassano raised her voice. The world didn’t listen. Who was Emilia? Was she the ‘Dark Lady’ of Shakespeare’s sonnets? What of her own poems? And why was her story erased from history?
In Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s electrifying new play, Emilia and her sisters call out to us across the centuries with passion, fury, laughter, and song. A raging call to arms that cannot be ignored. With a cast of 13 incredible women and non-binary performers, this play celebrates all voices through the trailblazing story of a woman who refused to take no for an answer.
Sonya Suares plays the dual role of Desdemona and Lady Katherine, as well as producing the show. Sonya is a multidisciplinary performer, dramaturg, director, producer and arts activist. Feature films include Wil, Knowing, My Year Without Sex and The Last Ride; television highlights are Very Small Business, East West 101, Lowdown, It’s A Date, Lie With Me, Five Bedrooms, Riptide and The Clearing. Recent theatre credits include the Australian premieres of We Get It, Contest, Whale and Hearth. Sonya founded acclaimed Sondheim repertory company Watch This, realising a body of work that includes Assassins, Pacific Overtures, Company, Merrily We Roll Along, A Little Night Music and Sunday in the Park with George and has accrued a total of 27 Green Room Award nominations/ 4 wins. She’s also been nominated for her work as an actor in MTC’s Melbourne Talam and Polyglot Theatre & Papermoon Puppet Theatre’s immersive sensation, Cerita Anak. She also shares a nomination for Best Direction of a Musical with Dean Drieberg for Sunday in the Park with George (2019). Recently, she co-directed Into the Woods with Melanie Hillman for Watch This (6 GRA nominations including Production of the Year); the 2022 Cybec Electric playreadings with Isabella Vadiveloo for MTC; and wrote/produced a pilot of the fantasy adventure screen project, The Quest – a collaboration with her son, Daniel. She is currently working with composer/lyricist Vidya Makan and Hayes Theatre Co on The Lucky Country and with MTC as an Associate Artist/Assistant Director on Sunday: A Fantasy of Life at Heide.
You are not only producing Emilia, but starring! What has been the most challenging part about taking on these responsibilities?
Sonya: Ooft! It is definitely a challenge being an actor-producer. But then when I look back, it’s something I’ve been doing since I was a kid. My very first professional role (for screen) happened when I was 16 and that same year, I produced the first play I ever acted in with a bunch of theatre mates. Realising Emilia – an enormous epic with 16 cast and 16+ creatives – at Arts Centre Melbourne in the midst of a global health pandemic has been a slightly more complex endeavour … but then I’m older now. And I certainly haven’t done it alone. I’ve had an incredible team of women around me!
And the most exciting?
Sonya: Rehearsals have been the most exciting part. Our collective effort across 34 months of pre-production has all been leading up to being on the floor together. The first day of rehearsal is always a highlight because it’s like stepping onto the playground. Everything lies before you – it feels wonderful and free.
Desdemona is one of Shakespeare’s most iconic female characters – what are you bringing to your interpretation?
Sonya: Desdemona is an idealist. Someone who hasn’t yet been exposed to the ruthlessness or brutality of the world. Someone who remains hopeful about truth and integrity prevailing to her dying breath – which in the context of her trajectory in Shakespeare’s play is absolutely heartbreaking. These are qualities that resonate with me. I was definitely a version of Desdemona in my 20s. And beneath the cuts and bruises, I probably still am or I wouldn’t have persisted in this industry. But beyond the character herself, for me Desdemona represents a long list of Shakespearean heroines that I’ve always wanted to play and for the most part, never had the chance. Juliet, Rosalind, Olivia, Hermione, Portia and of course, Emilia (also Othello). So the 20-something actor inside is tickled pink that she gets to speak these lines, even very briefly. The bigger part of my track in this play is Lady Katherine – and she has a wonderful journey. One which, in some respects, parallels that of Desdemona. But with the help of our Emilia, she gets to author a different ending.
Emilia is a triumph for a diverse range of female identifying and non-binary creatives – How does the piece champion modern feminism?
Sonya: In so many ways. Firstly story: Emilia tells the tale of England’s published poet – Emilia Bassano – who was also a migrant and likely of Jewish descent. She was an absolute trailblazer and we see the world through her eyes, as someone who was marginalised a number of times over but who is nonetheless unstoppable. History relegates Emilia to a literary footnote, the “dark lady” of Shakespeare’s sonnets. This play re-centres her in her own narrative. Form-wise, the play offers audiences three Emilias, all women of colour and all representing Emilia Bassano at different ages/ stages in her story. And surrounding our Emilias there is an ensemble of extraordinary actors of all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities who play a host of different women. I mean, it is truly a kick-arse cast. So the form of the play celebrates plurality and solidarity. It is a deeply intersectional and feminist work. In fact, it’s a call to arms. It’s also very, very funny.
Can you summarise Emilia in 5 words or less?
Sonya: Exhilarating. Liberating. Hysterical. Joyous. Transformational.
Emilia plays at Arts Centre Melbourne’s Playhouse from November 10th to 27th.
For tickets and more information, please visit the Arts Centre Melbourne website.
