We asked playwright Zia Ahmed a few questions about I WANNA BE YOURS – currently touring nationwide and coming to the Bush Theatre 04 December – 18 January.
1. How did the commission of I Wanna Be Yours come about?
hello – so in 2016 i saw an open call out for paines plough’s come to where i’m from which tamasha was working with them on for the london leg
you had to write a monologue about where you’re from + read it yourself no actors
this felt like doing a spoken word piece so thought why not apply?
i got picked for the north-west london event at the kiln [ then tricycle ]
read on a cool line up with writers gabriel bisset smith che walker karla williams
+ my sister too mediah ahmed
paines plough kept in touch with me after + applied for the channel 4 playwright scheme
which we got + i spent 2017 with them + this was the play i started writing as part of it
tamasha came in looking for a play for a week long rural arts tour in 2018 around various schools + village halls in north yorkshire which they co-produced with paines plough + off the back of that tour we ended up with the current tour + bush run
2. Tell us what I Wanna Be Yours is about
i wanna be yours is about haseeb + ella going through their relationship from first meeting to the present. they tell the story to and with rachael who follows their story with them + all the people + spaces they have to navigate together + apart
3. Now tell us what it’s really about! Is it a love story or a political play or both? If both how do you achieve that balance?
it’s about haseeb + ella navigating through the world as a couple + by themselves
it’s about what home means to both of them
it’s about the things they experience on their own they bring into their relationship
+ the things they experience as a couple impact them as individuals
everything is everything
love does not exist in a vacuum
love is affected by the real world
your race your class your gender your region your faith your work
these inform how you love how you loved how you’ve been loved how you want love how you want to love
+ love includes it all
a love story can’t be apolitical
for me balance comes having everything as one
overlapping connected + not separated into
this part is love
this part is political
this part is + so on
5. How did you decide to become a poet and playwright? And which came first?
poetry is probably the path that got me to this play
but theatre led me to that path in the first place
i was part of youth theatre groups
heat&light at hampstead [ got closed down ]
then oval house drama company
at royal court i met sabrina mahfouz [ sabrinamahfouz.com ] at a writer’s group
she invited us to come to a uk slam
that was my first experience of performance poetry
saw my mate sean mahoney [ seanysense.com ] perform as part of roundhouse poetry collective
[ which is still going + open for anyone under 25 to apply to ]
off the back of seeing sean i applied for the next year
ended up going to theatre less + spoken word nights more
watching + writing + performing
i love[d] the form of it writing + performing your own work
+ the immediacy + intimacy + variety of voices within it all
then the come to where i’m from call out came
it feels like i’ve come full circle
but this time round both poems + plays are drawing at the same time
6. How does your background as a poet feed into your playwriting? You’re also a Poetry Slam champion – how does being a performer inform the way you write characters?
being part of the roundhouse poetry collective
one of the first pieces of advice from steven camden aka polarbear [ bearstories.org ] was
‘write for the sound of your own mouth’
[ maybe paraphrased but it’s how i remember it now ]
he made clear to us from the start he wasn’t trying to tell us how to write A Good Poem
but for us to write poems which were in our voice for our voice
it was always about us saying what we want to say
i’ve tried to keep that in mind when i write anything
so while this play has characters who don’t speak like i do
it will say things i want to be talked about
there are bits with are obviously rhythmic
but there’s not much punctuation in the script
cos i wanted the director + the actors work out rhythms
a rhythm that is more for themselves
+ it feels more fun that way
seeing the choices they make
8. How much of your own experience mirrors Haseeb’s?
haseeb is a british pakistani poet from north west london
the character is me + the character is fictionalised
experiences i’ve had are fed into haseeb’s story
also experiences i’ve imagined + experiences i didn’t have
so no matter how much or how little is actual happenings
it’s all things i’ve wanted to talk about + dissect
it’s all based on real feelings + impulses for conversations
which i hope can be had with people who watch the play
9. What else are you working on right now?
working on a commission for hopefully a second play
+ i am also on tour with sarathy korwar at the moment
two poems i wrote are part of tracks he’s made
which i’m performing at his shows
he’s an amazing musican + v excited i get to be part of it
You can read more about I WANNA BE YOURS here. Are we touring near you?