Statues

Azan Ahmed

STATUES

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Epigraph

Characters

Notes

Statues

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Statues premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, on 9 October 2024, produced by Two Magpies Productions. The cast was as follows:

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Lynette Linton, Daniel Bailey, Katie Greenall, Gurnesha Bola, Ellie Horne, Ben Quashie, Becky Lyle, Nuu Theatre and Barbican Centre for believing in this play from the very beginning. To Esme Allman for your vision, brilliance and unwavering support. To maatin (Two Magpies Productions) for your dedication, kindness and holding us all together. To Mr Khan, for your insight, honesty and fighting the good fight.

To the incredible company: Eve Allin, Adam Jeffreys, Cara Evans, Rachel Sampley, Holly Khan and Lois Sime. And to everyone at Bush Theatre and Nick Hern Books for all their support.

To Maryam Shaharuddin and Hamza Ali, it is truly a pleasure to watch your artistry blossom.

To my fellow actor Jonny Khan, whose generosity of spirit lit up the rehearsal room.

To Luke Reilly and Christina Shepherd, for their belief and guidance.

To Raja Roy Chowdhury, for telling me to keep writing.

To Bex Smith, for being a pillar of warmth.

To everyone who held me in the immediacy of my grief and those who continue to do so.

Above all else, the praise and thanks are ultimately to Allah, whom I owe every single thing to and whom I pray accepts this play and its intentions.

A.A.

For my mama, Afshan Ahmed,

the best teacher I’ll ever know.

For my baba, Oneil Ahmed,

the greatest storyteller I’ll ever know.

For my brothers, Zahran and Faizan Ahmed,

who redefine joy each time they smile.

Allah, you gave us a language

where yesterday & tomorrow

are the same word. Kal.

A spell cast with the entire

mouth. Back of the throat

to teeth. Tomorrow means I might

have her forever. Yesterday means

I say goodbye, again.

Kal means they are the same.

Fatimah Asghar, ‘Kal’

Characters

PRESENT DAY

YUSUF, Muslim. Twenty-six. Third-generation British Pakistani. English teacher. Mustafa’s son

KHALIL, Muslim. Seventeen. Second-generation British Pakistani. Year 13 A-level student

DOLLY AUNTY, Muslim. Seventy-seven. First-generation British Pakistani. Yusuf’s great-aunt

PAUL, white English. Headteacher at Yusuf and Khalil’s school

1996

MUSTAFA, Muslim. Nineteen. Second-generation British Pakistani. Aspiring rapper. Omar’s best friend

OMAR, Muslim. Nineteen. Second generation British Pakistani. Aspiring DJ. Mustafa’s best friend

Notes

This play can be performed by two actors, with the following doubling:

Actor A: Yusuf/Mustafa/Paul/Dolly Aunty

Actor B: Omar/Khalil

indicates when Yusuf is speaking to another character

– indicates a hesitation

/ indicates overlapping interruption

[ ] indicates lines thought and not spoken

This ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

Scene One

We are in the living room of a council flat in South Kilburn. Specifically, this is number 50 Wordsworth House on the South Kilburn Estate. There is a Persian rug and the living room is littered with moving boxes, stack of unopened post. In the centre lies an unopened suitcase. The boxes are not empty, but not full. During the first scene, YUSUF should clear up some of the clutter. Maybe there are three moving boxes.