Summer 2013 - Merchant Taylors' School

Summer 2013 16 17Filmout there and how diverse it is and themassive disconnect between that talentpool and formal drama education. A lot ofthat is inequality of opportunity and I amcommitted to help equalise this somehow– currently we are trying to work on a newfunding strategy.The second project is trying to set upthe UK’s first gang rehabilitation clinic.There is a gang problem in London andin many inner cities in the UK, similarto the US, but we don’t want it to get asbad as there, and it’s getting worse. Inthe context of the lack of public provision– which most youths rely on, be it youthclubs, health services or educationservices – we need to try and find a wayto treat gangsterism as though it werean illness, as though it were an epidemicand not just criminalise it – get into gangrehabilitation – in a similar way to drugre-habilitation. So I’m interested in thisclinic run by an amazing guy called KarlLokko who is an ex-gang leader himself.Do you feel a pressure to be aspokesman? When somethinghappens that affects British Muslimsdo you get the BBC on the phone asif you’re Mr Rent-a-Quote? How doyou feel about that?I felt it a lot more 2005/07 when there wasthat ugly climate of xenophobia, and thespotlight was on the war, and the terrorthing was really intense. It is much lessnow, but I did feel pressure to do that. Ialso realise there are other people whosejob it is to work in this area and it is rightthey should be given that voice and thatplatform rather than someone who’s justbetter known but is not a specialist inthat area. You’ve got to have faith that theperson whose burning need is to talk willdo it, but I don’t feel you should step up todo something because you feel like, “Well,I guess I should” – you have to want to.You’ve got charisma. One of thethings that goes with that territoryis that you polarise people – likeat MTS people either loved you orhated you. But as an actor you haveto embody emotional experiences thatthe broadest spectrum of people canrelate to. How have you learned tomanage your Rizness – the charismathat polarises?Watching you do it so badly at Taylors’definitely helped! (Laughter) I think II think sometimesthe transition iswhat you kickagainst. I thinksometimes therecould be a senseof confusion anda sense of notfitting inRiz as Mack the Knife in theThreepenny Opera at MTS (1999)have changed. As I’ve got older I listenmore and talk a little less than maybe Idid before. Maybe I am not as polarisedas the person I was. I do think that I haveevolved and have mellowed a bit as I’vegot older, maybe I’m not as polarisingas I was, but then – I wouldn’t want to beboring! (smile)You’re Asian from a Muslimbackground, but at root aren’t yousimply this generation’s incarnationof a certain radical conscience thatBritain’s public schools have alwaysproduced? Do you think in someindefinable way there’s a Britishpublic school spirit that people likeyou embody?I think that being at a school like MTSand not being able to afford to be there,for example, yet being welcomed in andaccepted in and nourished – I think itdoes give you a sense of the importanceof giving people opportunities they maynot otherwise have had and I think that isan aspect of my schooling that I am veryproud of and glad to be associated with.Given that we withdrew severalyears ago the financial advantagesassociated with scholarships and putit all into Bursaries, we are now at thestage where more and more childrenare coming from less advantagedbackgrounds. More OMTs areprepared to give for bursaries than forbuilding projects. What would yourmessage be to those kids who arriveat the school today and tomorrow?I think sometimes the transition is whatyou kick against. I think sometimes therecould be a sense of confusion and a senseof not fitting in. But I would say this:if you don’t feel like you fit in you caneither say to yourself you are not wantedhere or you can say “hang on a minute, Iam unique and can bring a fresh energyto this place and help redefine andrejuvenate it. The future looks like me”.If you are different you are change, soembrace yourself and what you bring tothe table and don’t walk away.If you are interested in supportingany of the charities Riz is workingwith, please get in touch viaConcordia – editor@mtsn.org.uk