Letitia Wright and Golda Rosheuvel on starring in 'Not Your Superwoman'

Lynette Linton’s final production at the Bush Theatre stars Letitia Wright and Golda Rosheuvel. We spoke with them about the creation — and the meaning — of Not Your Superwoman.

It all started in an upstairs room at the Bush Theatre over a coffee. Lynette Linton, the soon-to-be outgoing artistic director, invited actors Letitia Wright and Golda Rosheuvel to a top-secret meeting. The three were eager to collaborate, but questions remained: What story did they want to tell right now? Who would write it? And what did they all truly care about?

“That was our first point of call into discussing this play and this journey,” explains Rosheuvel. “Lynette came to me and said, ‘I really want to work with you — would you and Letitia work?’ She just said to us, ‘trust me’ and so we did.”

The result of that belief is Not Your Superwoman, a play written by Emma Dennis-Edwards especially for Wright and Rosheuvel, and directed by Linton. It follows mother and daughter Joyce and Erica as they navigate the aftermath of the death of the family matriarch – Joyce’s mother and Erica’s grandmother, Elaine. “It is essentially a play about a mother– daughter relationship, their trauma, and what that means for different generations,” says Wright.

The previous generation is very much present in the play, too: both actors voice Elaine, and her thoughts and feelings are woven into the script. Beliefs are passed down from one era to the next, and Not Your Superwoman explores what this means for individuals within a family. “We wanted the play to cover themes that many women – not just from our community – could relate to,” says Rosheuvel. “It is a play filled with lots of different colours and flavours.”

It has been a few years since both actors have been onstage; both have enjoyed celebrated screen careers, with Rosheuvel starring as Queen Charlotte in Bridgerton and the spinoff series dedicated to her character, while Wright earned critical acclaim for her role in Marvel Studios’ Black Panther and Wakanda Forever. How do they feel about returning to the theatre? “I’ve not been onstage for seven years, I’m terrified,” laughs Rosheuvel. But they both agree that something about performing in front of a live audience will always pull them back. “I was looking for something to come back to the stage with, and this is the perfect thing. I really wanted to tell this story,” Rosheuvel says.

When we meet, the team is in the early days of rehearsals. But they’re all sure the play will be something truly unique. Music is a big part of things, with Caribbean sounds of past and present a recurring feature through the scenes. “Obviously we’ve got two generations coming together... Joyce is tapped into old stuff as well as newer stuff too... the music is going to be one big party”. The stage itself will be dressed in “heat and colour”. With a design by Alex Berry, “there are a lot of visual elements. It’s going to be very beautiful, very visceral,” says Wright.

Not Your Superwoman is very much led by its characters. Rosheuvel plays Joyce, “a portrait of a certain kind of Black woman [who] came to this country and is living the life her mother wanted her to live.”

“The play shows all the constraints that come with that,” she explains. “Whether she wants to or not, she is passing her trauma down to her daughter.” Erica, played by Wright, has her own journey of “breaking away from the pattern in her family” to go on in the play. “A lot of young people today are embracing more therapy and positivity towards mental health, and she is one of those people... Erica is a young woman who is trying to understand herself, but there are conflicts towards that healing.”

Developing their mother–daughter relationship has been key to the rehearsal process; Wright has even started referring to Rosheuvel as "mother" casually. "I'm thoroughly enjoying it,” laughs Rosheuvel. It’s clear the actors have a strong affinity for one another – as we talk, they regularly embrace, finish each other’s sentences and genuinely compliment one another profusely. “Golda is such an amazing actor. It is an honour to work with her. I’m learning so much,” says Wright.

The actors describe the making of Not Your Superwoman as an intensely collaborative process. From those early discussions at the Bush, Linton invited Dennis-Edwards to join the team and write the script; “from our early ideas she formulated the whole story,” says Wright. “This was really about creating a piece of work that is all of us – actors, writer, and director,” Rosheuvel adds. Day to day, that means the rehearsal room is alive with conversation: the creative team share personal stories, challenge each other’s ideas, and fold those lived experiences directly into the work taking shape on stage. “It’s happened with the four of us just getting into a room and telling our own stories. That is exactly how the script has come about.”

Did it feel nerve-racking to sign up for a play with no plot at the start, I wonder? The two actors immediately shake their heads. “We’re all here for the same reason,” says Rosheuvel with enthusiasm. “Everybody signing up without seeing a word.” So what made them do it? “There are a few reasons,” Wright continues – first, the idea that the play would be centred on Black women; then the excitement of building something from scratch; and, of course, the pull of Linton.

Not Your Superwoman marks Linton’s final play as artistic director at the Bush after six years. “How could you say no to that?” Rosheuvel jokes. “She’s a genius. She’s so relatable. She just gets it.” Both actors speak warmly about Linton’s previous work. “I’ve seen it all,” Rosheuvel says, reeling off recent successes like Shifters and Intimate Apparel. Still, the pair think it is significant that Linton has decided to bow out of the Bush on this. “It is a personal play for all of us, coming from Guyana and not really seeing a lot of our stories… when we come together it is a beautiful, beautiful experience.”

The show’s title is taken from the song ‘Superwoman’ by Karyn White. But, what does the phrase Not Your Superwoman actually mean to the actors? “It is basically looking at what it means to be a woman, and specifically a Black woman trying to navigate life and carry everything,” explains Wright. “The idea is that it's not actually a bad thing to not be a superwoman”.

The dream is that Not Your Superwoman will start big discussions. “We hope that audiences will leave and want to have their own difficult conversations,” says Rosheuvel. “It is one of the big reasons we’re doing this play, because talking about this kind of stuff is tough.” Wright agrees “we’d love people to go, 'that’s my mum, that’s my sister' and call them, speak and maybe patch things up”.

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Photo credit: Letitia Wright and Golda Rosheuvel in artwork for Not Your Superwoman. (Courtesy of production). Inset: Wright, Rousheuvel, and Lynette Linton in rehearsals (photos by Tyler Fyose), Wright in Black Panter (courtesy of Marvel Studios).