Phizzical Productions has announced the UK tour of Shahid Iqbal Khan's Olivier-nominated play, 10 Nights!
Audiences will get to experience one man's spiritual journey of self-discovery after he decides to participate in Iʿtikāf - the Islamic practice of staying in a mosque and fasting for the last ten nights of Ramadan. This moving and funny production will tell Yasser’s story in English, with Urdu and Arabic references, as well as being creatively captioned.
10 Nights was developed through Graeae Theatre Company's Write To Play programme and was originally co-produced by Graeae and Tamasha, in association with the Bush Theatre in 2021. Telling a warm story of forgiveness and acceptance, 10 Nights will have audiences embark on a spiritual sleepover, contemplating faith, friendships, and the future.
Writer, Shahid Iqbal Khan comments, “I am really thrilled that 10 Nights is coming back in a brand-new production with a fantastic team on board. As a South Asian playwright, it's a very rare privilege to see one of your plays get another lease of life. I am excited and curious to see what audience members will draw from it this time around. Years later, as I revisit the play, I am struck by how the play presents a visibly Muslim space and has no qualms about holding back. In a world where Islam is often greeted with suspicion, where Muslims are subject to surveillance and intimidation, it is no small thing to have a play that takes us into the heart of a mosque and allows the place to just be - I can't wait to share this play with audiences beyond London!”
Phizzical Productions’ Director Sâmir Bhamra comments, “Our company, Phizzical Productions, recently celebrated our 20th birthday. We marked this milestone by engaging with and consulting British Asian actors about the work they were being offered. We were dismayed to learn that a majority of arts continued to perpetuate demonising stereotypes: British Asians playing Muslim terrorists, asylum seekers, sexual predators, or oppressors. We observed how anyone who challenged this narrative is silenced with relentless trolling and prejudice. 10 Nights is a step towards changing that narrative. It is an uplifting play set in a mosque during the holiest of Islamic months. It shows the delicate balance between faith and the realities of modern life. We are telling it so that tomorrow's stories will present the myriad of humanising dimensions that British Asians have.”
Tour Dates:
7th – 21st February Omnibus Theatre, London
1 Clapham Common North Side, London, SW4 0LH https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/10-nights/
23rd – 24th February Tobacco Factory, Bristol
Raleigh Road, Bristol, BS3 1TF https://tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/10-nights/
25th – 27th February Beck Theatre, Hayes
Grange Rd, Hayes UB3 2UE https://becktheatre.org.uk/Online/tickets-10-nights-hayes-2024
1st – 2nd March Curve, Leicester
Rutland Street, Leicester, LE1 1SB https://www.curveonline.co.uk/whats-on/shows/10-Nights
A clock is ticking away in the background of a darkened rectangleManzu Islam
The body in its stylised repose is already stirring to take flightManzu Islam
Tony Jayawardena 
This laid the foundation for his epic sequel, The Lord of the RingsAuctioneum