Brown Girls Do It Too: Mama Told Me Not to Come

BBC Sounds' Brown Girls Do It Too is the award-winning podcast from Poppy Jay and Rubina Pabani that explores the messy realities, fantasies, sexpectations and navigating life and relationships as British Asian women. Following a successful set of 'work in progress' performances at London's Soho Theatre, Tilted will now present the world premiere of Brown Girls Do It Too: Mama Told Me Not to Come at Soho Theatre before embarking on a national tour.

Brown Girls Do It Too: Mama Told Me Not to Come is a show inspired by the critically acclaimed podcast, winner of the Podcast of the Year at the British Podcast Awards 2020 and of the Best Podcast at the 2021 Asian Media Awards.

True to the podcast, Poppy & Rubina will be discussing their life experiences with their trademark uncensored, no-filter approach - touching on orgasms and first loves to racism and family politics. But the live show will turn the dial up even further, with Rubina describing the experience as "like the podcast, but on acid". Expect a myriad of songs, sketches, dances, and some questionable Indian accents...

"Something strange has happened and our private conversations about our private parts turned into a podcast which has now morphed into a stage show", says Rubina Pabani. "Come join us for a healthy dose of 90s nostalgia, some self-hating wanks and a ponder about how colonialism has affected our bedroom personas".

Comedian and writer Shivani Thussu and set and costume designer Rosanna Vize join the original creative team of Rubina, Poppy, producer/director Sam Hodges, dramaturg Pia Furtado, and sound designer Jasmin Kent Rodgman. "We're growing our brown girl gang to include opinions from across the melanin spectrum. Being a Brown Girl means many things to many people and we hope that this next phase of the experiment includes more perspectives than just our own", adds Rubina.

The live show will premiere at London's prestigious Soho Theatre on 18th October - before then travelling to Birmingham, Southampton, Brighton, Nottingham, Leeds, Salford, Bristol, and finishing with two dates in Leicester on 18th & 19th November.

"The podcast is immensely funny, accessible and candid." says Tilted founder Sam Hodges "But what also struck me about it when I first listened was its sense of social mission. This is a project as much as it is a podcast. And the importance of that to Rubina and Poppy throughout the development process of our madcap show has been absolutely clear."

Tilted are also proud to announce that they will be launching a nationwide ambassadors' programme, inviting local residents from any of the touring cities to apply to form part of a group of advocates for the show and the project as a whole. Selected ambassadors will be invited to attend previews of the show at Soho and become part of an ongoing conversation with Rubina, Poppy and the wider creative team about the potential for the show to engage their own communities. Anyone interested in becoming an ambassador should apply on the website.

"We are popping our collective brown cherries by taking Brown Girls Do It Too on TOUR", Poppy Jay states. We got a tonne of slut shaming for the podcast, but what really grabbed us by our collective clits were the messages from young women thanking us for being so 'open, honest, relatable, taking the shame away AND putting the fun back in to sex'. We LIVE for those messages and can't wait to take our sexy little podcast on the road cos it's just as much about your stories as it is ours."

• Official website

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