The Black Album
a new play by Hanif Kureishi
A co-production between Tara Arts and the National Theatre
'The flawless cast do Kureishi’s funny script and excellent characterisation proud.' London Lite
'Jonathan Bonnici has the right uncertainty as the confused Shahid and there is much staunch support from Robert Mountford as his Thatcherite brother, Shereen Martineau as his glamorous sister-in-law, Tanya Franks as the randy lecturer and Alexander Andreou as the adamantine Riaz.' Guardian
'This is a long-over due look at a very urgent issue.'
Daily Telegraph
Religion is for the benefit of the masses, not for brain-box types like you. Those simpletons require strict rules for living, otherwise they would still think the earth sits on three fishes. But you mind-wallahs must know it’s a lot of balls.
An Asian kid from Kent goes to college in London and teams up with a sympathetic group of anti-racists. But it’s 1989, the year of the fatwa, and as Shahid begins a hedonistic affair with his lecturer, his radical Muslim friends want to steer him away from the decadence of the West.
We’re not blasted Christians. We don’t turn the other buttock. We will fight for our people who are being tortured anywhere – in Palestine, Afghanistan, Kashmir, East End!
Hanif Kureishi’s witty stage adaptation of his strikingly prescient and acclaimed novel, The Black Album, humorously considers how the events of 1989 have shaped today’s world, where fundamentalism battles liberalism.
The Black Album will also go on a UK tour. For more details visit www.tara-arts.com
Photos by Talula Sheppard.
The Black Album workpack for Key Stage 4 users, produced by Tara Arts with the National, is available as a free download. It contains background on the rehearsal process, and suggests discussion and writing projects relating to the production.
The Black Album finished on: 7 October 2009
