Bradford-born and raised artist talks writing, inspiration, representation and activism…
By Suman Bhuchar
ASIF KHAN is certainly a man of the moment and he is everywhere as a creative artist.
His play ‘Sisters 360’ is on tour, he appears in the BAFTA nominated ITV series, ‘Mr Bates vs the Post Office’.
He is in a new production of ‘A Man for All Seasons’, which is about to come to the West End and he has also arrived in the Radio 4 flagship series, ‘The Archers’.
www.asianculturevulture caught up with this multi-hyphenate artist, to discuss what drives him and his disciplined approach to work.
Khan, 44, told us that the inspiration for his play, ‘Sisters 360’, was an article about the real life skateboarding sisters – Layna, Maysa and Ameya from Hull – who saw his show during its run at Polka Theatre Wimbledon.
“It excited me to see young Muslim girls breaking the stereotype. By just being on a skateboard and looking cool wearing their hijabs.
“I suggested the idea to Helen Matravers (artistic director at the Polka) and it was about me finding the drama. They got in touch with the family and things proceeded from there.
“I wanted two vibrant, strong charming, mischievous sisters who wanted to skateboard, were a bit rebellious and could generate a lot of fun,” he explained.
“They are two British girls who want to compete and win this Tiny is Mighty Skateboarding competition. But the parents decided to separate and that’s what causes a lot of the drama.”
‘‘Sisters 360’ is produced by Polka Theatre, Turtle Key Arts, Leeds Playhouse and Bradford City of Culture 2025 and directed by Ameera Conrad. The play is aimed at children aged between eight and 12.
It features, Sara Abanur (Fatima) and Farah Ashraf (Salima), who are ten year old blended sisters and best friends – Fatima is Somali and Salima is Pakistani and apart from being brilliant skateboarders, Salima can also communicate with bats.
“I grew up reading Roald Dahl books, like ‘The BGF’ (‘Big Friendly Giant’), ‘Matilda and George’s Marvellous Medicine’ and always in his stories something weird and wonderful happens,” he enthused.
For instance, the grandma in ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’, grows tall and grows through the roof; in ‘The BGF’ you’ve got big giants who collect people’s dreams and Matilda can use her eyes to lift pencils and write on the chalk board.
So, you have real characters and a supernatural made-up world that as a writer you can let your imagination loose.
Super heroes are a big thing for young children and to have this super power in this play that Salima has where she can communicate with bats, I loved exploring that and being imaginative and playful, he explains.
(To say anything more would be a spoiler). Suffice to say, the play is about sisterhood and following your dreams.
For Khan, it’s important to write stories that feature Muslim characters and who can be role models, because he explains that for most of his life other people have written about people who look like him.
“I feel there is always negativity and its amplified which makes the Muslim community look bad.
“There is a certain narrative in people’s heads, certainly people who don’t have any contact with people who are Muslim and I started writing because I wanted to change that.
“I felt that my voice is as a normal British Person living in the UK. I am just a dad, an actor and playwright. It’s important for young people to see themselves represented otherwise you start developing a certain lack of self-confidence growing up and I don’t want that for my children.
“So, this is me trying to change the world a little by putting out work which represents authentically the British Muslim voice and are stories about humans.”
Khan, who was born and brought up in Bradford, went to the Salt Grammar School, studied at University of Bradford but always wanted to act.
He joined the Acting School run by Madani Younis and later went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, widely acknowledged as one of the best places in the world to study acting.
His aspiration is to continue to work as an actor and writer. He is very excited that ‘Sisters 360’ will be on in his home town of Bradford as part of the City of Culture celebrations.
As an actor, he has done a lot of good work and recently played, postmaster, Mohammad Sabir in Mr. Bates vs The Post Office.
He has also been touring in ‘A Man for All Seasons’ – the seminal play by Robert Bolt first produced in 1960 – in a new production directed by Jonathan Church.
The show enjoyed a brief tour to regional venues earlier this year but is back from July 22 to September 6 with a run in Brighton, York and London’s West End.
‘A Man for All Seasons’ is a play about politics, power and corruption – centred on Sir Thomas More, a statesman who refused to accept Henry V111’s separation from the Roman Catholic Church because he wanted to divorce his first wife, Catharine of Aragon to marry, Anne Boleyn.
Khan plays Signor Chapuys (the Spanish ambassador to the court of Henry V111), who is against the separation.
Listeners to Radio 4 may have also heard him recently as a new character, Akram Malik in ‘The Archers’. He plays the husband of the doctor, Asra Malik (Yasmin Wilde) who moved into the fictitious village of Ambridge in October 2023 with her two children Zainab (Priyasasha Kumari) and Khalil (Krish Bassi) while the dad was away.
Akram arrived into the show on March 2 this year and has been making his presence felt in the village.
They moved in with another family (while their house was flooded) where wife Lynda decided to do a supportive Ramadhan fast and this caused a stir in the papers, but it passed.
“It’s a lovely character who is breaking the stereotypes a little bit, he’s a gentle caring father, he’s emotionally available, he’s sensitive, he’s a nice guy.
“He’s a plumber so he’s connecting with a lot of people. He’s very useful come to the rescue many times already”, he laughed.
The Maliks are now firmly entrenched into village life and listeners are intrigued as to how their story will unfold.
Away from the creative side, Khan is deeply concerned about the situation in Gaza and continues to raise awareness about what is happening to innocent civilians caught up in the conflict.
“I found this whole period the most troublesome difficult period of my life. We are seeing death and destruction every single day on our screens.
“It’s unbearable and we want it to stop. It seems the most important thing to do at the moment is to put your voice up there.”
Everybody can do their part, there are petitions, they are protests, there is boycotting, there are things you can do to help. You can donate as well, he said.
“But the way our politicians have handled the whole situation they have kind of demonised people on the protests and are trying their hardest to stop us from using our democratic right against what we feel our country is doing which is wrong, against international law,” he asserted.
Through his creative oeuvre Khan continues to change perceptions and add to the canon of South Asian creative work in performing arts. He is a disciplined writer who confesses to being a workaholic.
“Deadlines are good for me. It really motivates me after breakfast and dropping his two kids to school.
“I set my alarm for 2 hours and don’t look at my phone. I have some space I will carry on writing, I am a workaholic and I like working.”
So how does he unwind?
“That’s what I find difficult, unwinding. My kids always demand a lot of attention. I like getting in the garden and doing a lot of gardening. I like watching NBA basketball and playing basketball.”
Pictures: ‘Sisters 360’ – Tasha Best ©PolkaTheatre
Listings
‘Sisters 360′ is going to the Leeds Playhouse (May 7-10) as well as Community and Schools Tour (May 12-23) and Bradford (May 29-31).
https://bradford2025.co.uk/event/sisters-360/ (The Beacon Bowling Park – 29-31 May {times vary})
A Man for All Seasons Tour Details
https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/a-man-for-all-seasons/
