The groundbreaking London play that’s finally making theatre welcoming for Muslim audiences-Faima Bakar-Entertainment – Metro

I’ve only ever been to the theatre as part of a school, university or enrichment programme. For Muslim families, theatre-going isn’t a popular pastime; it’s expensive, inaccessible and doesn’t often tell stories that are reflective or sometimes even interesting to racialised audiences.

That is until poet Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan came onto the scene with a new play offering a love story for the ages. 

In her debut play Peanut Butter & Blueberries, Suhaiymah sets the scene at a university with two central Muslim characters; Hafsah is the socially aware firecracker offering quick quips to her counterpart Bilal, who cuts a hilarious image while trying to maintain some stoicism.

The two-person play follows the connection between the students respectively reading Gender Studies and South Asian Studies as they navigate adolescence in London, having moved from Bradford and Birmingham. Sitting on a park bench, but never touching, Hafsah is taken by Bilal’s choice of sandwich filling, forming the play’s title, and the two grow dear to one another, finding solace as northerners, as Muslims, as two young people learning one another’s quirks and quietly falling in love. 

Peanut Butter & Blueberries isn’t just a coming-of-age rom-com though, and explores serious and topical themes; Islamophobia and the government’s Prevent strategy’s effect on Muslims, war PTSD, domestic violence, class and capitalism; Hafsah is offered a prestigious writing programme in New York and experiences social mobility, Bilal doesn’t know anyone who’s ever been to New York.

He considers doing an accounting degree to make money that will help his struggling single mum with her mortgage and help her get away from his abusive brother. This forms the central tension in the play, not their identity as one might come to expect in a play about Muslims. No one is struggling with their faith, quite the contrary – they are emboldened and guided by their Islamic principles – Hafsah doesn’t struggle with her hijab, Bilal knows his role as a Muslim man and provider. 

This play tells a tender love story between two students (Picture: Faima Bakar)

Audiences will see themselves in Hafsah, the Palestine bag-toting independent Muslim woman fighting inter-community misogyny and the world at large. Bilal, sporting a hoodie with a watermelon emblazoned on it, is like so many Muslim men I know; putting on a brave face, making poor decisions, using humour as a defence mechanism.  Never in a theatre production before have I felt like both the protagonist, omitted characters and the audience all at the same time (only two characters are ever on stage). Is this how represented white audiences feel all the time?

Suhaiymah has made a conscious decision to make audiences feel seen; before the show begins, a nasheed (Islamic ‘music’) fills the theatre, the production begins with Bismillah (in the name of God) with blessings offered to Prophet Muhammed, and crucially, the run time accommodates one of the five Islamic prayers, ending before Maghrib time. A prayer space is offered to Muslim worshippers. Kiln Theatre, where the show is running, also hosts alcohol free nights for the non-drinking audience. 

From left Usaamah Ibraheem Hussain who plays Bilal, next to writer Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, actress Humera Syed who plays Hafsah, with designer Khadija Raza (Picture: Faima Bakar)

These amenities are important, says Suhaiymah, as these barriers would normally stop her going to the theatre herself. She tells metro.co.uk: ‘I didn’t just want Muslims included in the story but in the theatre and so the means to facilitate that access had to be in place – for me I knew I wouldn’t come if it meant I’d miss a prayer or there was no facility to pray. So those accommodations were essential otherwise I’m essentially betraying the characters I’ve written by not upholding realities that assist the real Bilals and Hafsahs of the world.’

Suhaiymah jokes that she tries to count how many people in the audience are wearing a hijab. It would be a shorter list to count how many aren’t. This play invites Muslim audiences from all over the country, some notably for the first time. It’s a welcome change considering that 93% of theatre-goers come from a white background, according to Arts Council England’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion data report for 2021. 

The show will be running at Kiln Theatre in Kilburn until 31 August (Picture: Faima Bakar)

Peanut Butter & Blueberries forms a nascent trend of having Muslim experiences reflected in theatre (though more need to be commissioned). Other examples include Dugsi Dayz (no longer running), which has had an award-winning run at Edinburgh Fringe, and follows the hijinks of friends at detention a la The Breakfast Club. And Blue Mist explores shisha lounges as a space of community and coming together for Muslim men, and what happens when those spaces are invaded by an exoticising, white and privileged gaze.

Both shows have run their courses at the Royal Court, and soon Suhaiymah’s will find its end at the Kiln Theatre in Kilburn. But the appetite for Muslim stories, in all its richness and diversity, is evident, and crucial at a time far-right Islamophobia makes Muslims feel unwanted and unheard. So, with more stories, let’s hope we get to taste different sandwich fillings. 

Peanut Butter & Blueberries is on at Kiln Theatre until 31 August. 

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