Imagine Asia - mini-theatre festival

FOR THE THEATRE buffs among you – especially those based in the Midlands – check out Imagine Asia – which presents five performances between today (April 6) through till Saturday (April 8), and taking place at the Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester.

The readings are about to get underway this morning at 11am.

It’s a festival showcasing Asian writing talent and put on by Samir Bhamra and his Phizzical productions outfit, which is behind the successful ‘Bring on the Bollywood’. This will be going on tour nationally soon and we will be covering.

But back to Imagine Asia – four writers and five performances. These are, in the main, staged readings with opportunities to comment and participate, plus networking opps. You pay what you think is appropriate.

The plays are ‘Happy Hijabi’ by Shahid Omar Khan which looks at a Muslim divorcee searching for love again. This is Khan’s second play and he’s emerged from Manchester Muslim Writers’ Workshop.

‘Divided’ is by Sukbika Anwar-Khan, a playwright we have covered before in acv. Her latest examines three women who are negotiating life, love and everything in between, without losing a sense of their South Asian heritage. Her last play, ‘Princess Suffragette’ was performed at The Vault Festival in February this year. That story is here on ACV FB. Her previous play, ‘Stateless’ was one of our theatre highlights in 2015.

‘Mata Hari’ and ‘Kathakali Kabaret’ are written and performed by Aletia Upstairs. The latter is a very loose interpretation of the fairy tale, ‘Snow White’ who encounters seven deadly sins, while the former is about the famous spy as she awaits death and sings about her fate.

‘Three Daughters’ by Omar Khan looks at sibling rivalry after the death of a father and yes, his three daughters assembling to mark his passing. A writer with more experience than the above, Omar Khan was one of the lead writers behind the home produced Zing TV soap, ‘Cloud 9’. His sitcom, ‘Love, Sex and Side Effects’ got a development contract with the BBC in 2014.