‘JACK IN A BOX’
By Naylah Ahmed
Why would an ordinary English housewife suddenly kidnap a young Muslim man?
Bombings, shootings, beheadings, planes going down, newspaper articles, blogs, tweets, 24 hour news… It seems endless. But all she wants is silence. Then Yusuf turns up at her door uninvited. Pat hasn’t been out since the news, and now, of course, she can’t go out - can she? She’s done something that can’t be undone...
An ordinary English housewife has taken a young innocent Muslim man hostage in her living room. Gradually we learn why and about the recent fate of her own son. This highly topical and extraordinarily compelling play uses the classic theatrical device of dramatising an intensely personal story in order to sharply dissect confused and media distorted western attitudes towards Muslims.
Writer Naylah Ahmed is an established writer for theatre, radio and TV. Her play Butcher Boys was one of four joint winners of the 2008 Bruntwood Prize. She wrote Mustafa which was co-produced by Kali with Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 2012. It was nominated for 4 Off West End Theatre Awards and awarded a Special Prize at the 2013 Royal National Theatre Playrights Award.
‘A compelling and engaging production, delicately directed by Janet Steel of this poignantly profound and insightful piece...’
What’s On Stage
'A well-meaning but feared Muslim trapped inside a grim white compound - Islamophobia in a nutshell... both play and production deliver a good few cold shivers.'
Time Out
‘The idea for Jack In A Box has been with me for some years. Most of my work starts with characters and a situation occurring to me and then won’t leave me alone until I write them down. The seed of this play was Pat and what she does to Yusuf. Once that crystallised, I let the situation play out on the page to see what happened next...’
Naylah Ahmad
Kali Theatre
Award winning Kali has been presenting ground breaking new theatre writing by South Asian women for over 20 years. We actively seek out and nurture strong individual writers who challenge our perceptions through original and thought-provoking theatre. We have established a reputation for high quality sell-out productions that entertain, excite and inspire audiences all over the UK with work that reflects and comments on our lives today. We have toured to venues such as Birmingham Rep Studio, Coventry Belgrade studio, Plymouth Drum, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leicester Curve studio, Manchester Royal Exchange studio, Tewkesbury Roses Theatre, Wolverhampton Arena Theatre and Pinxton Village Hall.
