By Naylah Ahmed
Directed by Janet Steel
Tuesday 17 to Saturday 21 April
The REP @ mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH
Local writer Naylah Ahmed’s compelling and vivid thriller, Mustafa, opens at mac Birmingham as part of The REP’s off-site 2012 season from 17 to 21 April.
Mustafa is in prison for the death of a teenage boy during an exorcism. Racked with guilt at the loss of an innocent life and isolated in a world where his beliefs are constantly challenged, he tries to avoid trouble. But when prisoners who taunt him suffer mysterious injuries and prison officers start behaving strangely, Mustafa starts to think the evil djinn he tried to banish from the young victim’s body is still with him and he must face it once more…
Is Mustafa the deluded killer of a teenager or a brave innocent man who risked his life to deliver the boy from a dangerous being? This compelling and vivid thriller where nothing is quite what it seems will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Talking about her inspiration for the play, Naylah Ahmed, said: “Throughout the eighties we spent many Eid nights during family get togethers huddled in a room listening to djinn stories that kept us deliciously scared but that we heard, essentially, as stories, fiction.
As I got older I started thinking about where these stories began, and realised when they were first recounted, miles away in Pakistan, they were told as accounts of something that had really happened. So why didn’t we see them that way, what had changed? There are so many ways of exploring this rich subject matter, but the transition of account to story is what first sparked the idea for what finally came to be Mustafa.”
Birmingham writer Naylah Ahmed has been writing since the late 1990s for stage, radio and television. In particular she was a founding script editor for Silver Street, the first ever British Asian soap. She won the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting with Butcher Boys in 2008, and was one of the writers of These Four Streets – a multi-authored play about the Lozells riots which premiered at Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 2009. Mustafa was developed on attachment at The REP and subsequently commissioned by the theatre.
Directed by Janet Steel, Mustafa features a cast of four. Playing the title role of Mustafa is Munir Khairdin whose previous theatre credits include The Comedy of Errors (Royal Exchange), Behzti (Birmingham Repertory Theatre) and Bombay Dreams (West End). He is joined by Gary Pillai as Shabir. Gary’s stage credits include A Passage to India (Shared Experience), Wuthering Heights (Tamasha / Lyric Hammersmith) and Mahabharata (Sadler’s Wells).
Ryan Early plays Dan – Ryan is best known for his role as PC Tom Nicholson in Heartbeat and his stage credits include shows at the Royal Court and The Globe. Completing the cast will be Paul McCleary as Len. Paul’s credits span stage and screen including The Taming Of The Shrew (RSC), Juno And The Paycock and Oedipus (National Theatre) and films Calendar Girls and Britannia Hospital.
Set design for Mustafa will be by Colin Falconer, lighting design by Tim Mitchell and music by Arun Ghosh.
Birmingham Repertory Theatre is now temporarily closed until 2013 as the theatre undergoes redevelopment as part of the new Library of Birmingham. However, the company is still producing and commissioning work in different venues across Birmingham as well as on tour.
Listings Information
Mustafa
Tuesday 17 to Saturday 21 April
Venue Information: mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH
Performance Times: Evenings at 8.00pm. Matinee at 2.00pm on Sat 21 April.
After Dark: Thursday 19 April
Tickets: £12 with concessions available.
Box Office: 0121 236 4455
Online Booking: www.birmingham-rep.co.uk
Please note: Tickets are available to buy in person from The REP’s Box Office, ‘The BOX’, located in the Birmingham Central Library Foyer, Chamberlain Square, B3 3HQ and also at mac Box Office.
