Combustion E-Book

Asif Khan

• Herausgeber: WS
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 85

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Bradford, in the month of Ramadan.
Shaz, a local garage mechanic, is trying to keep his business going despite the terrible scandal of Asian men involved in grooming young girls for sex in the area.
A protest march through the city is planned and Samina, Shaz’s sister wants to make a speech at a counter-demonstration for Peace.
Shaz just wants a quiet life so that his prospective in-laws will let him marry their beautiful daughter, but as the city gets swept up in the protest, his world gets turned upside down.
Asif Khan’s debut play is a fabulously comic take on the combustion surrounding young British Muslim lives.

Leseprobe

Asif Khan

Writer:Combustion, selected as one of six new plays for the Arcola Theatre’s playWROUGHT #2 Festival, 2014. Progressed through to the final stage of the BBC Writers Room Script Room 8 Scheme. Tight Bastards, reading at the Soho Theatre for Tamasha Theatre (2015) and at Theatre 503 (2016). Willkommen, commissioned by Tamasha & The Migration Museum. The Plot, reading at the Soho Theatre for New Muslim Voices (2016), commissioned by Tamasha. Member of Tamasha Playwrights Group & BBC Comedy Room.

Awards: RADA – Won a Laurence Olivier Bursary Award & Sir Alec Guinness Memorial Award.

Snookered – Nominated for ‘Best New Play’ & ‘Best Ensemble Cast’, Off West End Theatre Awards 2012. Won ‘Best New Play’ at the Manchester Theatre Awards, 2013.

Plot to Bring Down Britain’s Planes – BAFTA Winner, 2013

Adopt a Playwright Award (OffWestEnd) – Nominated and made it through to the final shortlist.

Love, Bombs & Apples – Nominated as a finalist for Best Stage Production at the Asian Media Awards 2016 and Nominated as a finalist for Best Stage Production at Eastern Eye Arts, Culture & Theatre Awards 2017.

BBC New Talent Hotlist 2017 for New Writers.

Nominated as a finalist for Best Actor at Eastern Eye Arts, Culture & Theatre Awards 2017.

Beam Awards 2017 – Nominated for The Male Actor of the Year Award.

www.theasifkhan.com

First published in the UK in 2017 by Aurora Metro Publications Ltd

67 Grove Avenue, Twickenham, TW1 4HX

[email protected]

Combustion © copyright 2013 Asif Khan

Cover design © copyright 2017 feastcreative.com

Production: Simon Smith

With many thanks to: Ivett Saliba and Claire Alejo.

All rights are strictly reserved.

For rights enquiries including performing rights, please contact the publisher: [email protected]

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

In accordance with Section 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Asif Khan asserts his moral rights to be identified as the author of the above work.

This paperback is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Printed by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY.

Ebook conversion by Swift ProSys.

ISBNs:

978-1-911501-91-6 (print)

978-1-911501-92-3 (ebook)

COMBUSTION

by

ASIF KHAN

For my dear friend Zenab Khan.

2nd July 1976–3rd July 2014

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

BIOGRAPHIES

COMBUSTION

About AIK Productions

AIK Productions was created by Asif Khan in 2015 to produce new, high quality theatre specializing in stories and voices from minority backgrounds.

Its first production in 2015 was Love, Bombs & Apples by award-winning playwright Hassan Abdulrazzak. It had a sold out run at the Arcola Theatre as part of the Shubbak Arab Arts Festival in 2015. The show returned in 2016 for four weeks at the Arcola Theatre alongside a UK tour to: Northern Stage (Newcastle), Mercury Theatre (Colchester), Printers Playhouse (Eastbourne), Attenborough Arts Centre (Leicester), Cast (Doncaster), York Theatre Royal (York), Theatre in the Mill (Bradford), Oldham Coliseum (Oldham), Kinara Festival (Ace Centre, Nelson) and Arabica Arts Festival (Liverpool).

It was nominated for Best Stage Production at the Asian Media Awards 2016 and as a finalist for Best Stage Production at Eastern Eye Arts, Culture & Theatre Awards 2017.

“**** Bubbling humour… Quartet of monologues with a profound ability to find humour in the most over-trodden tragedies” – The Stage

“**** Searingly satirical… brilliantly observed” – LondonTheatre1

“**** Powerful, political theatre… Laugh-out-loud moments… Chris Morris’ hilarious film, Four Lions, sprung to mind” – Hackney Gazette

“**** Invigorating… inspiring… exhilarating… Rosamunde Hutt’s economic, elegant single-room production transports us effortlessly to each milieu, as does Khan’s extraordinary gift for transformation” – Carole Woddis

@AIK_Productions

About Tara Arts

Tara Arts are established as one of the UK’s foremost creators of cross-cultural theatre. Tara Arts’ work consistently seeks to connect worlds, through new writing and reimagined classics. Tara Arts was founded in 1977 and will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2017.

In September 2016 after extensive renovation, Tara Theatre was opened in Earlsfield, south west London by the Major of London, Sadiq Khan. This award-winning theatre – the country’s first dedicated multicultural theatre – was designed by architects AEDAS Arts Team.

Tara brings together artists and their audiences under the shade of our tree. All are welcome to step through the antique Indian doors into a world of colour where the small is global.

With its unique earth stage floor, Tara Theatre’s 100 plush seats offer an intimate setting to appreciate actors weaving their magic. Its studio space provides opportunities for rehearsals and workshops, small events and meetings, while its outdoor patio garden – flanked by railway sleepers – offers a haven from the hustle and bustle of a busy urban high street.

Winner of The Stage Award for Sustainability in 2017, Tara Theatre is home to connecting worlds.

Patrons: Sir Richard Eyre CBE, Shobana Jeyasingh MBE, Naseem Khan CBE, Hanif Kureishi CBE, Sir Salman Rushdie and Nitin Sawhney.

Founders: Praveen Bahl, Ovais Kadri, Sunil Saggar, Vijay Shaunak and Jatinder Verma MBE.

www.tara-arts.com

@Tara_Arts

For Tara Arts

Artistic DirectorJatinder Verma

Executive DirectorLaurie Miller-Zutshi

Associate ProducerJonathan Kennedy

Associate DirectorClaudia Mayer

Head of FinanceJulia Brundell

General ManagerAlexandra Wyatt

Technical & Operations ManagerTom Kingdon

Finance ManagerXiao Hong (Sharon) Zhang

Digital Marketing CoordinatorKatie Robson

Development AssistantLauren Harbord

IT ConsultantHitesh Chauhan

Welcome TeamBattersea Arts Centre

Volunteer Ushers Team

Tara Arts Makers and Mentors

Ausaf Abbas, Adrian Mayer, Dennis Mountford, the Shinebourne family and Elisabeth Smith.

With thanks to

The Carne Trust, Arts Council England, Royal Victoria Hall Foundation, White Light, Arcola Theatre, Tamasha Theatre, RADA, Robin Soans, Carl Miller, Nick Connaughton, Sheena Patel, Peter Singh, Jaz Deol, Michael Luxton, Muzz Khan, Nic Wass, Fin Kennedy, Dane Millard, Earlsfield Car Maintenance Centre (ECMC), the Ziaulla family and the Khan family.

Introduction

It could have been a poster for Combustion: Saffiyah Khan confronting an incensed EDL supporter at a demonstration in Birmingham city centre on Saturday 8th April 2017. The fact that it went viral and that she got many thousands of responses in support of her action – which was in turn in support of a young Muslim woman wearing the hijab, Saira Zafar – is a very positive and hopeful news story in amongst the tide of negative ones which induce fear and inspire hatred. Asif Khan’s play is a much needed insight into a world which is largely unknown to those who are not part of or closely related to it. It raises issues that are complicated, difficult, and in need of greater exposure, knowledge and understanding; Asif’s writing confronts these issues directly with humour, empathy and grace.

Nona Shepphard, Director

April 2017

Asif Khan – Writer & Co-Producer

Asif trained as an actor at RADA. His theatre work includes: The Hypocrite (RSC / HullTruck), Paradise of the Assassins (Tara Arts), Love, Bombs & Apples (Arcola & UK Tour), Handbagged (UK Tour, Tricycle Theatre / Eleanor Lloyd Productions), Multitudes (Tricycle Theatre), Queen of the Nile (HullTruck), Kabaddi Kabaddi Kabaddi (Arcola Theatre), Snookered (Tamasha / Bush Theatre), Mixed Up North (Out of Joint), and Twelfth Night (National Theatre). www.theasifkhan.com

Nona Shepphard – Director

Nona Shepphard is a freelance writer and director, with over a hundred and fifty productions and forty commissioned plays to her credit. She is Associate Director of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and International Consultant at the Lir Academy in Dublin. She wrote the adaptation, book and lyrics for Therese Raquin which transferred from the Finborough Theatre to the Park Theatre London in 2015 and Draupadi, Princess of Fire for The Sujata Banerjee Dance Company last spring. She spent Autumn 2016 in Manila where she created and directed The Tempest Re-Imagined at PETA Theatre; this was a fusion of Shakespeare’s play with survivors’ stories from the catastrophic hurricane Haiyan in 2013. She has recently returned from San Antonio, Texas, where she directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Mila Sanders – Designer

Mila trained at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and Wimbledon School of Art.

Her designs include: Love, Bombs and Apples (Arcola), The Wind in the Willows (Birmingham Old Rep), Darknet (Southwark Playhouse), Soapbox (Talawa), Queen of the Nile (Hull Truck), Dogs Barking (RADA), Parallax, The Door Never Closes, All the Little Things We Crushed (Almeida), The Only Way is Chelsea’s (York Theatre Royal), The Rite of Spring / Romeo and Juliet (Concert Theatre), Snakes and Ladders (Rolemop), Jelly Bean Jack (Little Angel), Pub Quiz (New Writing North), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (NT Education).

As Costume Designer: Macbeth, Twelfth Night (NT Discover), The Little Mermaid, Pinocchio (Kazzum), Tombstone Tales and Boothill Ballads (Arcola), Jason and the Argonauts (BAC, Warwick Arts Centre and tour), St George and the Dragon (Warwick Arts Centre) and Unfolding Andersen (Theatre-rites).

Andy Grange – Lighting Designer

Andy’s work includes: Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel & Gretel (Hertford Theatre, Hertford), The Collector (KB Productions, UK Tour / Greenwich Theatre), Hysteria, The Birthday Party, Waiting For Godot, Absent Friends, Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Betrayal, The Importance of Being Earnest (London Classic Theatre, UK / Ireland Tour), Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Robinson Crusoe, Animus, Sunshine on Leith, Beauty & The Beast, Welcome to Thebes, Just So, Aladdin, Electra (The MTA, London), Romeo & Juliet, Pride & Prejudice, Bottom’s Dream, Arabian Nights, Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, The Canterbury Tales, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet (Queen Mary 2, Royal Court Theatre), Crimes in Hot Countries, Man & Superman, Woyzeck, The Shape of Things, Motortown, Titus Andronicus (RADA), And In The End (Jermyn Street Theatre), An Intimate Evening with Ruthie Henshall (re-lighter) (National Tour), and Mansfield Park (re-lighter) (Theatre Royal Bury St. Edmunds, National tour).