Interview of Adinia Wirasti by Freya Bennett
Adinia Wirasti is one of Indonesia’s most celebrated actors, known for her award-winning screen work in series like Mendua, Grisse, and Mr. Midnight. Now splitting her time between Indonesia and Australia, she makes her Australian stage debut as Lady Capulet in Romeo & Juliet with Bell Shakespeare. We caught up with her to talk about stepping onto the Australian stage, working alongside her husband, and bringing her own humanity to one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters.
Hi Adinia! How are you settling into life in Australia, and how’s the tour going so far?
Life in Australia has been very enriching and interesting so far, and the tour has been giving me a tremendous amount of sights and experiences seeing Australia and connecting with the communities through the show. Also, being able to perform in incredible theaters around the country. My top 3 favorites so far are Theatre Royal in Hobart, Her Majesty’s Theatre in Ballarat, and Princess Theater in Launceston.
You’ve had such an incredible career in Indonesia, what has it been like stepping into your first Australian stage role?
I remember the night I saw Rob Menzies’s King Lear performance on Bell Shakespeare’s opening night in Sydney in 2024. That is the moment I said to myself, “I want to be able to do that.” To be able to tell a story through timeless, rich, and complex text. I want to learn how to perform Shakespeare, on stage and/ or in films.
It was quite a dream really when I got the news from Peter Evans. It was an exhilarating yet terrifying experience. Having been in the acting industry for 25 years in Indonesia, I still feel a mix of nerves and excitement about this new venture. This shows that I have ample room for growth and skill development in both my personal and professional life.
It was quite an intense first couple of weeks when I started R&J rehearsal with Bell Shakespeare, not only because it is my theatre debut, but it is also my first Shakespearean play. Still it is most certainly one of the most incredible experiences working with Pete Evans in creating my version of Lady Capulet. I will also always remember Rob Menzies’s advice to always come back to the text; in Shakespeare, it is all in the text. Pete is such a visual Director in telling his rendition of this classic story. And he takes us—the Actors—on this journey into knowing, learning, and experiencing who the role is, in what kind of world we are playing, through the text. It’s an honor to get this kind of trust from your Director to mold your character to be a living, breathing person on stage.
It has been an empowering and enriching journey in battling my stage fright as well. To be able to enjoy each performance and still be surprised by it.
Lady Capulet is such a memorable character. How did you approach making her your own?
Yes, she is. And she is a complex character in my opinion. I don’t want to see and portray her as just a cold villain who is getting on the way of our protagonist’s wishes. She is so much more than a mother, a wife, and a lady; she is all of that and more. Mixing that with the world that she is living in at the time of the story, creates this beautiful image of a woman that is on her own journey in her life; figuring out her emotions, holding on to values, and navigating her own traumas. Above all else, she is human. We have constructed characters around Peter Evan’s direction that in this Romeo & Juliet, every character believes their actions come from the best intentions. As Romeo says when Mercutio is hurt, “ I thought all for the best.” In short, I guess how to make her my own, is to make her human.
What’s it like performing alongside your husband as Lady and Lord Capulet?
Honestly it’s such a privilege to be able to work alongside my husband. Michael is amazing in his Shakespearean work. I am in awe of his skills and integrity in showing up for the work. There’s a sense of given security in working with your spouse, but at the same time I need to be professional and responsible in not taking it for granted. And to make sure in making our offers of the characters Lord and Lady Capulet, we are not stuck in our comfort zone, and instead we reach for and hit the right emotions in this play.
You’ve done so much work on screen, how does preparing for theatre compare to working on TV or film?
At the core of it, it is acting. We are telling a story through these incredible characters. But the medium is different, the discipline is very different, my natural urges in approaching acting are very different, so I have to fight it. But our Director Pete helps me get through this. Michael does help me to be more disciplined in holding on to my choices when performing almost every night as well. Also, going through this tour, performing in 26 different theatres, does somewhat help me in training myself in how to fill up a space with my thoughts, how to make the text resonate, how to articulate the words, and how to land the right diction with the pentameter. Like I said, it is a very enriching experience.
Being fluent in both English and Indonesian, do you notice differences in how you connect with audiences in each language?
Oh, most certainly. The culture shock is real. But I have to always remember that creating a connection with the audience is why I started acting in the first place, and why I have kept doing it for decades and will keep on doing it. I think human connection is beyond languages; it’s energy. I think that’s why storytelling in films and theatres does well in making the audience feel seen. One of the best experiences in my career, both in films and in doing this play, is having an audience member come up to you and say thank you for your performance. It shows that they are not alone in whatever struggles that resonate in them from the story. So yes, there are a lot of differences, but it is never going to make one or the other seem less.
Looking ahead, what kinds of roles or projects are you most excited to explore next?
Now that I have performed one Shakespearean piece, I guess more Shakespearean roles and of course any other role that speaks to me. I find this question very hard to answer because just in saying that I want to play a certain role, I feel I am being unfair to other potential roles that might come to me! I like to believe that there is a certain magic in roles offered. And yes, it is that cliché saying of “Does the role choose you or you choose the role”. I think coming to each offer, chance, and possibility also have a part to play. I have to come to each with a clean, clear state—meaning without any attributes in “wanting” to play a certain role is fair to the role that is meant for me. That’s the magic, I guess.
