What happens when a woman finally begins to speak in her own voice?
Woman Business is a bold and intimate one-woman play about identity, belonging, and what it means to be a brown woman. A story of what we inherit, what we outgrow, and what we finally claim as our own.
The play follows Diya – a woman shaped by inherited rituals and the expectations placed upon her as she moves between cultures, roles and generations of memory.
Diya has spent her life carrying the traditions and expectations passed down through the women before her. Through childhood prayers, marriage, migration, grief and myth, she begins to unravel the many versions of herself – daughter, wife, widow, believer, rebel and goddess!
As the stories of her foremothers echo through her own life, Diya confronts the roles she has been taught to play. With humour, tenderness and raw honesty, it asks a simple but urgent question: what happens when a woman finally begins to speak in her own voice?
Shilpa Varma is a writer and actor whose storytelling spans theatre, animation, adaptation and audio fiction. Her short plays have been staged in India, Ireland and across London. Her work explores interfaith relationships, migration and the lived experience of brown womanhood.
Written and performed by Shilpa Varma
Directed by Frances Bodiam
Production & Sound Design: Nick Wells
Presented by Footfalls Theatre Company
The Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London, SE4 2DH. Tuesday 23 to Saturday 27 June 2026 at 7.30pm
Tickets: £17, £15 concessions (16+)
Box office: www.brockleyjack.co.uk or 0333 666 3366 (£1.80 fee for phone bookings only)
Run time: 60 minutes with no interval.
