AUBRI IBRAG:

The Buccaneers

by Maja Bebber

Photography: Stephanie Diani // Styling: Raz Martinez // Hair: Peter Butler // Makeup: Misha Shahrzada

Meet Aubri Ibrag. The emerging Dagestani-Australian actress has previously starred in her acting debut Dive Club and is now dazzling audiences as kind-hearted and mighty Elizabeth “Lizzy” Elmsworth in The Buccaneers, a story based on the novel by Edith Wharton.

The story is set in 1870’s England and surrounds a group of American girls making their way to London to be swept off their feet by English men. The question arises: is it true love or are they only chasing after titles?

“The British men had the titles but they had no money. But the American girls had the money but no titles,” Aubri tells me. At first glance, it is a story about money and power. But at the heart of it, it is a story about girlhood.

“I think that was definitely at the heart of the whole story. The whole show for us was the strong friendship and the power of female friendship.

“That's what it all comes to,” says Aubri. “All the girls are there for each other and no matter what any of them have done to each other, when it comes to it, they are always going to put each other first. I think it's important to tell stories that bring women up and don't pit them against each other.”

Lizzy is such a soft but at the same time immensely strong character – and Aubri embodies her perfectly. “I think I admire Lizzy’s strength. I feel like it would take a lot of strength to come to a different continent with all your friends and have to deal with what she had to deal with with Lord Seaton,” she explains. “And then she does run away. She goes back to New York once she does experience the abuse from Lord Seaton. But because she wants to protect her friend, she does come back to London and has to face him every single day because he's married to her best friend who she's trying to protect. I think that takes a lot of strength and she deserves a lot of credit for that.”

The scene Aubri is referring to is the one where Lord Seaton asks Lizzy to take off her clothes and lie naked in front of him on a sofa. He asks her to not move and he leaves. Little does she know, he won’t return. This scene focuses on the power dynamic that ruled those times and it made Lizzy feel extremely ashamed. The show underlines important lessons in not only past societies but also today's society.

“I think so many of the things we highlight and show are still so relevant today and women are dealing with a lot of shame.”

“If they did something that they didn't want to do or they're coerced or manipulated into doing something that they feel ashamed about, they have to understand that that shame does not belong to them and it belongs to the person that made them feel like that.” Aubri brings her passion for these complicated issues to the screen in her role on The Buccaneers.

The cast spent all their time filming in scenic Edinburgh, Scotland and Aubri shares her favourite memories and spots with me. One of them is a dish called black pudding she tried for the first time as well as haggis – a traditional Scottish dish. She says, her favourite thing about filming in Scotland was the food.

Aubri always knew that she wanted to be an actress. “It's just so much fun to play pretend for the whole day.”

Aubri tells me that back in the day, she used to be a competative runner. However, she soon realized she was more into acting. “I'd always be so much better at drama, and I would enjoy drama so much more just naturally. So, then I kind of realized, maybe it's time to let go of the athletic dream.”

What made her fall in love with acting was her being involved in a theatre play back in school. “I did this play in year 11 and it was A Midsummer Night's Dream and I was Helena. And I had this amazing drama teacher, her name was Miss Garrett. And she and everybody in the play, we just had so much fun doing it and performing it on stage. That's when I realized I had to figure out how to do this as a job and how to do this for the rest of my life because nothing makes me happier. Because it's just so much fun to play pretend.”

Aubri relates a lot to her character in The Buccaneers. “I feel like I'm very empathetic as a person and I am shy in social situations and I don't know what to say sometimes and it's awkward. So, I did relate a lot to that aspect of her character. As far as differences, she seems to me like she never makes a mistake and doesn't have a bad bone in her body. I think no one's as perfect as Lizzy although maybe in season two, she will have some flaws, we'll see.”

We look forward to seeing where Lizzy’s story will be taken in season two. This year is off to a good start for Aubri, but there are a lot of things she wants to manifest for herself still.

“This year, I hope to manifest how to be more independent."

"I do feel like it's really important to have a really good relationship with yourself and sort of love yourself and be independent and not feel like you need love from other people. So, I think that's something I'm going to be working on this year.“

Season 2 of The Buccaneers is officially in production, shooting again in Scotland. The first season of The Buccaneers is available to stream on Apple TV+.