Andrew Birkin is widely recognised for his career as a scriptwriter and director; in fact, when we catch hold of him, he’s in the middle of writing a script. But we’re here to talk about his most recent project which delves into another field entirely: photography. With a name like ‘Birkin’ it doesn’t take long to trace the family link to Jane Birkin, his sister, and as a result, Serge Gainsbourg.
Launching today is Andrew Birkin’s book Jane & Serge, published by TASCHEN, comprising a compilation of photographs the young Birkin took of his sister and the French icon, just when he was starting out on his film career. To explain the narrative behind the work, he rewinds back to 1968, explaining how he was working for Stanley Kubrick at the time. It was upon being sent location scouting for Kubrick’s Napoleon project (which never made it to fruition), that he first met Serge Gainsbourg. “I was staying with Jane in Paris, we were staying in the same little hotel, I was doing Napoleon and she was making this movie with Serge. I started taking pictures of – well – him, actually, as well as Jane, soon thereafter, simply because he was an amazing character and was wonderfully photogenic.”
The photographs, he explains, were on the very same Metro Goldwyn Mayer reels that were being shipped back to Britain, for Kubrick to inspect potential locations. “It’s why I had a Polaroid camera, at a time when nobody had one. It had been shipped back from California, along with the stock. One of the perks, of course, was that I could take it home at the weekends, and use MGM’s film.”
Visiting Jane and Serge on a regular basis, Andrew Birkin began to compile volumes of photographs, “For no particular reason, I didn’t really have an end product in mind.” With a wide range of portraits, which include sittings by Jane and Serge, their children Kate and Charlotte, not to mention Nana, Gainsbourg’s dog, the volume of photographs grew to become an intimate exploration of the relation between Andrew Birkin and the subjects he was photographing. He clarifies, however, that he doesn’t consider himself to be a photographer: “I wasn’t sitting there as a photographer, because it’s boring, apart from anything else. You can’t become a participant.”
Serge, 1969.
Serge, 1969.
Credits
The two parallel threads – Napoleon and the Gainsbourg portraits – resurfaced simultaneously some thirty years later. Whilst working on the Taschen book Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Madewith editor Alison Castle, the negatives and prints Andrew Birkin had taken of Jane and Serge naturally re-emerged, given that they were interspersed between the Napoleon material. “Because I was photographing Napoleonic sites around France, sometimes I might just have taken a few shots like that, of Jane and Serge on the same roll as Fontainebleau or Versailles.” Spurring him on to compile a book with the portraits, Alison Castle launched Andrew Birkin into the task of sifting through the thousands of snapshots. “I went through all my negatives, which I’d completely forgotten about, or which I hadn’t even printed up, and I put together a paste-up of the thousands of images of Jane and Serge.”
Whilst sifting through the material, which he guesses represents nearly 15, 000 shots, Andrew Birkin rediscovered episodes of his relation with his sister and Serge. “I was amazed, actually, at all the ones I’d never seen before. There was one in particular, the one where Serge is kissing Jane goodbye in the back of a taxi. Jane is looking rather prima donna-ish, aloof.” He relates the story to me, recalling a night-train trip to Paris with Gainsbourg. “Equipped with some rather fine Claret, we traded confessions all night long, but his English wasn’t very good, and my French wasn’t very good: it’s like playing the piano with two fingers, which is sometimes all you need!” Yet, according to him, a pragmatic approach is all you need. “You get to the point far quicker when you’re playing with two fingers, than when you can with the full score.”
Jane and Serge, 1969.
Jane and Serge, 1969.
Credits
With his candid shots and ‘family snap’ style photographs, Andrew Birkin has given us a very intimate view on his relation with two icons of French culture. Talking about Gainsbourg, we discuss the influences, the style and the humour, so particular to the French songwriter. And of course, we turn to Gainsbourg’s desire to uproot, unsettle and unravel the Norm -something Andrew Birkin traces back to wartime Paris, whilst it was still occupied by the Nazis. Being of direct Russian Jewish descent, Gainsbourg was forced to wear his Star of David for the full duration of the occupation. “On the whole, he hid his yellow star with shame.” But his legendary sense of humour, or “exhibitionism,” as Andrew Birkin calls it, was already latent and ready to pounce. “But – this is very Serge – he couldn’t resist occasionally flashing it in front of a group of Bourgeois, just to see the looks of shock on their faces. He absolutely loved to shock. Lots of people love to shock, but they don’t have the talent to go with it.”
With this anecdote, highly representative of Serge Gainsbourg as a whole, we bring the interview to a close. Drawing on an incredibly rich visual legacy, Andrew Birkin’s work is sensitive, intimate and quite unlike anything you’ve seen before.
Serge in Jane’s house in Cheyne Row, 1978.
Serge in Jane’s house in Cheyne Row, 1978.
Credits
Andrew and Jane Birkin will be present at the book launch and signing today, November 8th 2013. Click here for more details.
The celestial Nao brought her otherworldly sound to London’s O2 Academy Brixton on 12 March. The British R&B singer released her latest album Jupiter in February and began her international tour shortly after. Centred around growth and optimism, Nao brought the transcendent essence of her album to the stage with dreamlike set design, warm lighting and magnetic charm. Her ethereal vocals and radiant presence truly brought Jupiter to life. Relive her show captured by Schön!
Even on a slightly blurry Zoom call, Tala Ashe’s passion is wholly captivating. Yet, it’s her rich tapestry of experiences that truly informs and enriches her performances, allowing her to form deep connections with her characters and audience alike.
The Iranian-American actress first discovered her love for acting through literature. “I always loved reading,” she expresses, “but to realise that I could step into the shoes of these people who had been living in my books was the real magical thing to me.” Earning a BFA in Acting from Boston University and training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles, Ashe’s most notable work includes playing Zari in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Still, Ashe has always preferred theatre, saying, “What I so appreciate about theatre is that no one is editing your performance. What happens on that night is what happens on that night, for better or worse, it’s yours.”
Ashe has just reprised her role as Elham on Broadway three years later in English, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play navigating language and identity within a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) classroom in Iran. The play – while it’s inherently funny – implores audience members to change their perception of people speaking English as their second or third language. On the impact of the play, Ashe shares, “I’ve received some messages from audience members who say they are changed for the better and that it’s never occurred to them to think about what someone gives up – what parts of them they give up – when they are speaking a language that is not their mother tongue.”
Sitting down with Schön!, Ashe details reworking her role in English for the Broadway stage, learning more about herself through her character, and what she hopes audiences will take away from the play.
cape. J Berushi
dress. Tania Orellana
earrings. Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Surprise
opposite
dress. Melitta Baumeister
shoes. Charles & Keith
cape. J Berushi
dress. Tania Orellana
earrings. Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Surprise
opposite
dress. Melitta Baumeister
shoes. Charles & Keith
Credits
Firstly, I want to congratulate you on English on Broadway! How does it feel to reprise your role three years later on Broadway?
It’s so exciting to be having a Broadway debut, but to be having it with this play – that was so meaningful the first time I did it – now feels, in some ways, heavier because of world events in the last three years, but also more important. It’s been a real joy to do it on Broadway with the original cast and creative team.
For those who haven’t heard of the play, can you explain what it’s about?
It takes place in a TOEFL classroom in Iran – TOEFL is the English as a foreign language test. It’s a bunch of adult learners in that class, I am one of them, and we essentially see them navigating language and communicating with each other; struggling with that language. The way the playwright has written the play, you hear the play in English, but when we’re speaking Persian (Farsi), we’re speaking in unaccented English. It really allows accessibility for the audience. You’re never getting subtitles, you’re actually hearing the entire show in English and when they’re speaking their mother tongue, there’s even less of a barrier because you’re hearing unaccented English. It’s hard to explain. [Laughs]
It’s an exciting concept because, as an audience member, it makes you realise when someone is speaking in a second language, it’s not completely truthful to who they are. When you are speaking in English as if you were speaking Farsi, it makes sense for it to be seamless.
It gives you a sense of interiority which you normally wouldn’t get if there was a different language you were hearing or if you were hearing someone speak accented English. That’s one of the major themes of the play, and it lures you in. The play is very funny, and at the beginning, you can feel the audience laughing, and they should be laughing in some ways at the accents. As the play goes on, it’s asking you, “What are you actually laughing at? Are you laughing at their accents? Why?” It starts to – in an artful and subtle way – question how we perceive people speaking languages as a second or third language.
Can you tell me a bit about your character, Elham, and what drew you to the role?
I love her so much. She’s a very unapologetic, tenacious character who has a clear goal set in her mind. She has to pass this test – she has not successfully passed this test five times – and it is what will allow her to go and continue her studies. She wants to become a doctor. This is someone who is very academically inclined and used to excelling, used to being the best person in the class, and she suddenly finds herself in this classroom where she’s not good at English. She doesn’t feel like herself, as you said earlier, and she starts to butt heads with the teacher who has this love of English that Elham doesn’t understand. She perceives it as a rejection of her Iranian culture and the Persian language. That sets up these opposing forces and they really come to verbal blows as they navigate what both characters want.
What have you discovered in the play or within your character now you’re reprising the role that you hadn’t uncovered the first time around?
It’s not as intimate of a space [on Broadway] and my body as an actor knows that. I have found that I’ve had to make, specifically, a lot of physical choices that are different. Again, my actor body understands I’m now performing for 700 people versus 150 people. I need to make the story and the intentions clear to the person in the very back row, so I’ve created a roadmap for myself that is a little less subtle.
As I mentioned, in the intervening three years, specifically in Iran, the Woman, Life, Freedom movement has happened, and that has affected my conscious and subconscious so much. That has entered the play and Elham, to me, has become a kind of representation. The play was set in 2007/2008, so she was already representative of the women in the Green Movement that happened in Iran, but even more so, the bravery we’ve seen from the women in Iran in the last three years. That’s just a part of the play now. I’m an Iranian who was born in Iran and grew up here – so I in no way can represent an Iranian who has grown up in Iran – but I do feel the weight of that representation in depicting these characters who are in Iran. And, in some way, I think of Elham as an alternate avatar of myself had I not left Iran, and that really messes with your mind in some ways. There’s this sliding doors version of myself with me on stage every night which is a gift, but also very strange.
It’s fascinating to hear you describe that and how it feeds into your performance. Playing a role like this, there’s a lot, emotionally and beyond, going on, so what is the most exciting part and what scared you the most?
The Broadway schedule is very gruelling and there are days when I think, “I don’t know how I’m going to get through this.” [Laughs] The play is so incredible, that if you get on the ride, it’ll take you. I find, inevitably, if I just commit and submit to the play, it’s an exciting journey. Elham’s journey is so extreme in some ways – I think more than any of the other characters, she changes the most in the play. I can’t pinpoint a particular moment, but when I think of her in the first and last scenes, it’s so exciting to know I’m going on the journey of what happens in between.
I don’t know if it’s scary, but what’s so important to me as an actor is being truthful. As I previously discussed, the stakes here feel so high, and my love for the play and respect for Sanaz [Toossi] who wrote the play is so great. I feel the weight of not only Iranian representation but of anyone who feels othered. It’s not so much scary, but there is an aspirational pressure every night to truthfully tell the story to represent people whose voices have often, certainly not, been heard on Broadway.
With that being said, how did the role challenge you and help you to evolve as an actor?
In a lot of ways, I feel more confident in my ability to story tell, which is the goal. The number one thing – and what’s so refreshing about this part in particular – is that Elham is not a character who is primarily seeking approval from others. She’s messy in a way which is refreshing for me. As women in general, we’re asked to play a part and be pretty about it, and Elham is not that. The way she sounds when she speaks English is not beautiful or elegant, she’s screaming in the play in a guttural way about winning a ball game. These are not things I’ve ever been able to do in a part before, and it’s so freeing. But, for me, Tala, it’s just a reminder that I don’t need to care so much about what people think. I’m not here to please people, that’s not the definition of good work or good art, and the most important thing as a person and as an actor is to be true to yourself. Certainly to be kind to everyone around you, but not primarily be seeking their approval. Coming from my background of being an Iranian who grew up in Ohio, I feel so much of my life has been about assimilation, fitting in, and, “Oh my God, is someone looking at me weird because I look like this or talk like this or because my parents have an accent?” There’s something that Elham and this part have taught me, both as an actor and person that I hope I can carry forward in my work about being unapologetic about who you are.
That’s such a beautiful message, not only for your character and for yourself, but having the space to reflect that to the audience. I think everyone can relate to that in various ways, so it is universal.
Exactly, and that’s what’s so brilliant about the play. Yes, it is set in Iran, yes we’re in a TOEFL classroom, but there’s a universality to it. There are so many ways into the play, whether you’ve tried to learn a language before, or you have a complicated relationship with your parents, or you’re someone who is trying to pass a test.
From that, what is one thing you hope the audience takes away from the play?
I’ve received some messages from audience members who say they are changed for the better and that it’s never occurred to them to think about what someone gives up – what parts of them they give up – when they are speaking a language that is not their mother tongue. It’s a small thing, but it’s a big thing. The next time that an audience member encounters someone in the world who has an accent or is struggling with English in this case, if there can be more humanity ascribed to that person and an understanding that there’s an interiority there that they may not have access to, that would be an important takeaway.
You’ve also been in off-Broadway productions of The Profane, The Who & The What, and Urge for Going. Do you prefer acting onstage or on screen? How do they differ?
My first love will always be theatre. What I so appreciate about theatre is that no one is editing your performance. What happens on that night is what happens on that night, for better or worse, it’s yours. You have some degree of control over that and that’s so exciting. I love that anything can happen. I especially love it when you’re acting opposite someone who is also invested in being in the moment. That’s the best feeling in the world because both of you are listening so deeply that you don’t know what’s going to happen and you don’t know how you’re going to respond. Not to say that can’t happen on film, but there’s often less time to do it and there’s not necessarily that depth built with someone through rehearsal. When I started to do more television, that was a big transition. I realised, “Oh, I have to prepare all of this work on my own beforehand and come in and be flexible and in the moment with someone else who has also done that work.” Sometimes that goes really well and sometimes it feels like, “Oh gosh, I’m being too stagnant in my choices or the other person is;” that can be challenging. Then, of course, with television – it’s not an actor’s medium, it’s a director’s and editor’s medium – they will craft the performance you will ultimately see. In doing television, I’ve been able to separate myself from the end product because it’s just so deeply out of my hands, you know? [Laughs] I love television, so I’m very grateful whenever I can be a part of a project that is fun and rich in that way. But, I think theatre will always be my first love, and it’s what I feel most capable of doing.
It’s interesting hearing you say that because as a viewer, I’m never really thinking about the process of how you would be preparing for theatre versus on screen.
Often, I don’t like coming into a theatre rehearsal even having my lines memorized. I find that if I do that, I’ve made choices already. I like to make choices in the room with another human being, and you can’t do that with TV. You just don’t have the time. At least, I haven’t been privy to a process that allows that kind of rehearsal beforehand.
Looking back on your childhood, is there something specific event – a film, person, or event – that made you want to pursue acting?
I had a teacher in high school – my English teacher, but I went to a very small school, so he was also my drama teacher – and he nurtured me… I was one of those students who was more concerned about getting an A than learning in some ways. I think that’s part of being an immigrant – although my parents weren’t particularly concerned – I felt like, “I have to get an A, I have to get 100%.” But, I did All My Sons in high school and it expanded my understanding of what it is to learn and absorb something and to see other human beings reflected in work. I always loved reading, so the blueprint was there, but to realise that I could step into the shoes of these people who had been living in my books was the real magical thing to me.
Back to your question about what I’ve learned from Elham, I think there’s something about communion with yourself that I’ve learned as an actor. Those first times I did a scene or a play in high school, I realised that I needed to become friends with myself, to create an intimacy with myself that is so different from that front-facing person who wants to fit in, who is just trying to get validation from others. The other side of it requires a vulnerability with yourself, and even though that’s scary and I’ve fought against it, it’s a fight I’m willing to take on for my life because I know it’s a worthy one. I think it makes me kinder, a better person, and a better partner in the world.
It is that journey of self-discovery that is crucial to anyone, in any career, knowing who you are and being able to sit with yourself and be comfortable.
You start to realise that you don’t want to be derivative. There’s only so much you can do before you’re like, “No, I need to look inside me for there to be an output that is genuine and authentic and feels satisfying to myself.”
We talked a bit about representation on stage, but for five years, you played Zari in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, the first Muslim-American superhero on television. What does it mean to be a part of that on-screen representation?
It was incredible. It was the first time I felt like I was in an ensemble and a community and supported by the showrunner, producers, and network. They were interested in hearing my opinions on her journey and her representation. That evolved, and we went on an odyssey for five years. I feel proud of the work that we all did together and I think Zari was, in some ways, really revolutionary. I still hear from people who had never seen themselves represented on screen in that way. And yes, she was Muslim, but that wasn’t the number one thing about her identity. She was a person, she was three-dimensional, she was nuanced, she was questioning, she was changing, she was complex. That was the first time that I had an opportunity to do something so important representationally and also have the time to develop it in tandem with people who were interested in doing that work.
You also use your digital platform to spread your activism work, why is this so important for you to do?
I say I have the chronic disease of caring. I can’t help but care. I always have. I grew up going to Amnesty International meetings with my mum when I was eight years old. To some degree, it’s in my blood and the ethos of my family that it is imperative to stand up for those who don’t have a voice or cannot stand up for themselves.
Social media is a very flawed system of communication, but it’s really important for me to balance both my own mental health and bandwidth for these things with speaking up when I am able for things I feel strongly about. I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing that, even in the face of perhaps losing work. More and more people are getting blacklisted and cancelled, that’s the culture we’re moving towards unfortunately – and I don’t think social media is a place to be having conversations – but it is my platform, and I get to speak up for the things that matter to me there.
That’s a tough balance to strike between looking out for your well-being and knowing that you have a platform that you can use to spread awareness, so I applaud you for that.
Thank you.
Lastly, what’s next for you and your career?
I would say that doing English on Broadway gives me a lot of hope, both in terms of representation and being involved with art that reaches people on the level that this play is. To be totally honest, it has set the bar very very high and I’m a little worried about my own mental health coming off of this project. [Laughs] Mostly, I feel so grateful that I know it’s possible to be a part of something that feels so rich. I think anyone who sees this play experientially understands that we can tell stories about people who are different from us that are universal and that are objectively good. It is just good storytelling, and that can happen across all mediums. In a wide-scale way, I hope the impact of this show reverberates into the future, not just for me, but for generations of theatre artists and other people making art in these mediums. In a lovely way, it sets the bar high for projects that I’m looking forward to in the future. I’m excited about what might be coming down the pipeline.
There has been a flux of great art to celebrate over the past year. The world is seeking enjoyment and music is simply a cultural mirror of that desire. The party spirit has taken over the charts and it only takes looking through the list of 2025’s BRIT award winners like BRAT connoisseur Charli XCX, pop darling Chappell Roan and Schön! 2023 rising star Raye to see that there is a genuine appreciation for the art of performance. As awards season comes to a close, it’s only right to go out with a bang. Grammy award winning Capital Xtra DJ Manny Norté gathered together some of the brightest stars in the UK like Schön!’s rising stars FLO, British comedian Munya Chawawa and legendary pop group Sugababes, for the Move Good x Peak BRITs afterparty. This year the annual event was held at London’s iconic Madame Tussauds where guests partied until the early hours surrounded by life like wax figures of Rihanna, Timothée Chalamet and Beyoncé. Schön! captured the star-studded evening with some exclusive film shots by photographer Harry Ambrose.
