Tara Arts presents
Combustion
By Asif Khan (BBC’s New
Talent Hotlist 2017)
Hexham
Queen’s Hall
Tuesday 4th July 2017
Combustion, Asif
Khan’s debut play, is a fabulously comic satire on the combustion surrounding
young British Muslim lives in the North today and it’s coming to the Queen’s
Hall Arts Centre, Hexham on Tuesday 4th July.
‘A brave, important and necessary play’ The Telegraph
Combustion is set in Bradford in the
month of Ramadan. Racists plan to march through the city, latching on to the
latest grooming scandal. Shaz, a local garage mechanic, desperately tries to
keep his business running smoothly so he can marry well. In this combustible
atmosphere, his sister Samina is determined to make her voice heard.
Combustion was selected as one
of 6 new plays for the Arcola Theatre's playWROUGHT#2 Festival 2014 and
progressed through to the final stage of the BBC Writers
Room Script Room 8 Scheme.
Combustion is a prescient exploration of a modern community of Muslim
friends and family in Bradford. The
narrative follows secrets and lies around grooming of young women in Bradford and the
terrible consequences on the closely drawn community at a time of heightened
racial tensions.
Combustion deals with contrasting themes - masculinity and feminism,
peace and violence, racism and tradition – and offers a compelling insight into
the challenges of being young, Muslim and British.
Writer, Asif Khan explains “Going about my life in London, and
particularly within the profession I work where there are very few Muslims, I
have on some occasions felt a fear of it being known that I am a Muslim. A fear
of being judged, a fear of being associated with the plethora of misconceptions
about Islam, which exist today. A feeling that you have to prove something,
that you’re peaceful, not extreme, ‘normal’, that you are as devastated as any
by the attacks we’ve seen recently in Westminster and Europe.
As a British Muslim, I’ve found my voice under-represented. I believe
this voice to be the voice of most British Muslims in this country who feel as
though they’re tarred with the same brush as the ‘bad’ Muslims, shown frequently
on our screens and in our newspapers. But also those battling against the
challenges in our own communities, about how we should tackle the problems we
are now faced with.
As an artist, drama is my tool to communicate. I hope Combustion will
communicate how I and many others feel about being British and Muslim today.”
Tickets:
Combustion is at the Queen’s
Hall Arts Centre, Hexham on Tuesday 4 July at 7.30pm.
Tickets are £6.50 - £13.50 and are available from the Queen’s Hall Box Office
01434 652477 or online at www.queenshall.co.uk
Suitable
for ages 14+ as this performance contains strong language and adult
themes throughout.
On
The Web: Combustion at
QHA
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