Meet the Cast : Nisrine Amine

December 23, 2019

What do you look for in a role and what drew you to Lady Tabouli?

To be honest, I don’t look for anything specific. For me, it all comes down to the project as a whole, the team involved and whether something in my gut says ‘Yes, this.’ Of course, I want a role that is exciting, that allows me to showcase my acting range, and that pushes to the surface parts of me that I often suppress. But overall, I don’t ever feel I choose roles…they choose me.

How do you think audiences will react to Lady Tabouli?

They will laugh. A lot. They will also be challenged. What we’re presenting to them isn’t easy to digest – there are hard truths being told up on that stage. But good. If this is what it will take to get members of the community to begin the road to opening dialogue with their loved ones that they were too scared to before…then we’ve done our job.

Tell me a little bit about your character – how have you prepared to get into the role?

I play Josephine, Danny’s sister and mother of two. She has a hard set of beliefs – quite conservative – and a strong loyalty toward family and religion. Although I don’t necessarily agree with some of her views, I do agree with her passion and conviction and so when it comes to playing her, I just need to tap into parts of myself that are as passionate. I don’t mind if audiences walk away not liking Josephine but I need to do everything in my power to get them to understand her. This is my job as an actor – to crawl into the skin of a character and look out of their eyes into the world. I then do my best to understand that world. And then I make physical, vocal and behavioural choices that reflect this perspective

You worked with Dino before on The Girl / The Woman… what do you love about working with Dino?

It is all about the script for Dino; about honouring the words on the page and using the actors to bring those words to life. So they don’t waste time. They come  in ready to work and as a result, we follow suit. They explain things with such clarity and precision, and their eye for detail, design and dramaturgy…wow! Inspires me daily! They are  also ridiculously funny and has the sharpest and driest sense of humour of any director I’ve ever worked with.

What is you relationship with Western Sydney?

What ISN’T my relationship with Western Sydney?! Haha. My family and I immigrated to Australia in 1988 and we moved straight into a little unit in Parramatta. For the 20 years that followed, I attended primary school, high school and uni in Western Sydney. My church was in Parramatta. I now run an acting school in Parramatta (Parramatta Actors Centre). For a long time, I must admit, I was ashamed of where I grew up. I wanted so badly to be from not-Western-Sydney. But I grew up, got over myself and realised that wherever I go, there I am. And when that happened, I was able to embrace Parramatta and see the gems that had been there the whole time, but that I’d been foolish enough not to see.

LADY TABOULI 
9 – 18 Jan 2020