Tea with Sameena Zehra

With such an intriguingly oxymoronic title, my first question to Sameena was obviously, about what audiences can expect from Homicidal Pacifist- Dust Off Your Guillotines

“The very first show I did in New Zealand, the one where I fell in love with the country and decided to move here, was a show called Homicidal Pacifist. It was my way of saying ‘the world has flaked out, what do we do? Should we just start culling the human race?’ Obviously we can’t do that because you’d end up having to cull yourself if you were doing the culling- you’d be part of the problem. That would be awkward! ”

“I always started the show by asking the audience if they think it’s time to cull the human race and a fair proportion would go, yeah, yeah. And a fair proportion would go, no, that’s going too far. But by the end of the show, they’d be like ‘and another thing… my neighbour was…’ So, they all ended up having a list in the end” which is hilarious and also slightly alarming.

“I wrote the show in 2016, and it was about where we might be going with wars ramping up in the Middle East and the last gasps of colonialism, the myth of Western civilisation and rules-based order. This show is the sequel to that- almost 10 years later, and things are worse instead of better

The last year and a half is unprecedented in our lifetimes. We haven’t ever seen this kind of carnage -why is it happening? Why are we allowing it?”

It's a good question, and one I’m sure many of us have been asking ourselves.

“It’s up to us to not accept that. How did we forget that collectively we have the power to change things? Just look at what the Hīkoi achieved- the power of people coming together We need more of that.

“For me, as someone who has come from elsewhere and now calls Aotearoa home, , I don’t think Kiwis always appreciate quite how unique and fantastic it is, but we’re going down a slippery slope -particularly with the current government. This isn’t a European country; it’s a Polynesian country and we have te ao Māori which is an extraordinary and uplifting philosphy, the idea of living in harmony with nature and communally with each other.” We could be leaning into that instead of wasting millions on shoehorning racist bills through parliament.

I agreed that it is very difficult when the reality is so crazy, people wouldn’t believe it if you wrote it. Sameena likened this to her recent experience re-watching Dr. Strangelove and feeling like this script that was so groundbreaking and confrontational in the 1960s now feels like the way you’d explain what’s going on to a child.

“That’s what the show is. A way to address the world we find ourselves in . There will be a fair amount of ranting- comedy ranting, which is the unholy child of normal ranting and normal comedy. We’re on a precipice and what are we going to do? Are we going to jump? Are we going to laugh? Are we going to have a revolution? Are we going to shun people? I’m a big fan of shunning. Let’s bring it back. Are we going to be more like the French? Not the French who are trying to pillage Africa or grab Muslim women’s hijabs, but the French from 1789. We need that lot back - they knew how to use a guillotine.”

Sameena chuckles here and I join her. The idea isn’t as absurd as it sounds...

“There are always people in the audience who are like, let’s go down the nihilist route. And I’m tempted… But I live in the world and I can’t just abrogate my responsibility and say I don’t care, it doesn’t directly affect me. Of course it affects me. I’m human and unfortunately, I have hope which is a giant pain, really.”

I suggest that hope is possibly the most dangerous and addictive drug.

She laughs “It’s just the pits. It’s so much easier to… go, I don’t give a f**k. I’m going to eat cheese, make money... Don’t care. Bye. But that’s not me. most of the time, anyway”

Given that some might find the content in this show controversial, I ask Sameena if she thinks there are any topics you just shouldn’t ever touch in comedy.

“No. It’s an art form isn’t it? And art is how you deal with things, how you respond to stuff. If you say controversial things just because they’re controversial, that’s lazy and people rightly don’t want to hear it. But if you’re offended by something I say because you think it attacks an opinion or a belief you hold, that’s different. We can have a discussion. You’re entitled to that opinion. I think the difference is intent. My intent is to question where we are and how we got here and what we can do about it. And I have strong feelings about these things. Not a lot of answers, but opinions and feelings and not everyone is going to agree with me, and they’re entitled to feel that way.”

Having seen previous shows, I know articulating challenging ideas is something Sameena is good at, in the best possible way. Another strength is that Sameena ensures her shows are accessible to all. There is a relaxed performance of Homicidal Pacifist planned for Saturday 24 May at 5:30pm.

“Because it’s a relaxed performance, it’s also an accessible performance and the tickets are priced accessibly - $15. So feel free to come then if you can’t afford a full priced ticket. And if you can’t even afford that and you still want to come, email me through my website and I’ll sort some tickets out for you. I have a policy of ‘no lack of fun for lack of funds, and I keep some tickets for that .’ People can be very shy about saying that about themselves, so if you have a friend who could do with a free ticket, let me know and I can organise it.”

Homicidal Pacifist - Dust Off Your Guillotines will be at Te Auaha Gallery 21-24 May. You can purchase tickets here.

ARTicle by Kate Larkindale

Disclaimer: ARTicle includes a variety of content, including interviews, editorial commentary and links to external sources. The views expressed by interviewees, editors and external sources are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Tāwhiri, its team, or its partners.