An explosive double bill of new, short plays found in West London, directed by Blanche McIntyre and performed in an exciting space at the new Bush:
REPENTANCE by Mediah Ahmed
Tug of war. A game I used to play as a child. It was fun then.
A miniature epic about a Muslim girl, her new boyfriend, and everything in between.
BEHIND THE LINES by Neil Daley
Me, I’m in no gang; that’s long.
I just wanna play football, make dough, chase girls – in that order.
As police tape cordons off yet another street corner, we’re taken on a breathless sprint through the lives and fears of the onlookers.
ANGLE’s mission is to uncover raw, local writing talent and marry it with professional theatre makers to produce vibrant, unheard voices for the British stage.
Over the summer of 2011, ANGLE conducted a ‘call for plays’ across West London:
“ANGLE’s three month search involved a fleet of community partners and volunteers and which took us across six boroughs in West London; from Hounslow High Street to Tesco’s Extra in Wembley. Our two selected writers, Mediah Ahmed and Neil Daley, are everything we could have hoped for; both offer something charismatic, vivid and new to the canon and we are proud to be their champions and to platform their work at the spectacular new Bush theatre.” Charlotte Gwinner, Artistic Director of ANGLE
ANGLE at the Bush is made possible through funding from the Arts Council, Foyle Foundation, Wates Foundation and Trans-Siberian Orchestra, alongside generous support in kind from the Bush Theatre and Pentagram.
If you anticipate any access needs to reach the space, then please do get in touch with us in advance of your visit and we will be happy to help you.
Theatre designs include: House of the Dead (Opera North), Der Freischutz and Beatrice et Benedict (for Opéra Comique), Das Portrait (Bregenz Festival), The Pearl Fishers (ENO), Le Donneur de Bain (Théâtre Marigny), La Grande Magie (Comédie Francaise), La Comedie des Erreurs (Theatre Vidy), The Firebird and Carl Davies’ ballet of Aladdin (New National Theatre Tokyo), Un Segreto d’Importanza (Teatro Communale di Bologna), The Gambler and Il Trittico (Opera Zuid in Maastricht), and El Burlador de Sevilla (Teatro Abadia Madrid).
In the UK and Ireland, designs include: Snegurochka (Wexford Festival Opera), Complicite’s Light and Jonathan Kent’s production of Lear (The Crucible), Il Re Pastore (Garsington Opera), The Canterville Ghost (English National Ballet), The Walls, Owen Meany and The Night Season (National Theatre), and Harvest (Royal Court). He designed Swimming With Sharks (Vaudeville Theatre), The Enchanted Pig, Street Scene and Been So Long (Young Vic), Othello and As You Like It (Shakespeare’s Globe).
Gary trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Lighting designs include: Foxfinder, Apart from George, S-‐27 (Finborough), Once on this Island (Cockpit), Jest End (Leicester Square & Jermyn Street Theatres), Gotcha (Riverside Studios), A Moment of Silence, Ordinary Lads (Etcetera Theatre), Miss Julie (Attic Theatre), Stuff and Leopoldville (Tristan Bates), So Jest End (Charing Cross Theatre), Angel and The Muse (Pleasance).
Gary was recently nominated for an Off West End Award for Best Lighting Desinger for Gotcha at Riverside Studios. He has also worked as an electrician in New York and West End productions, including: The Lover/ Collection, Dickens Un-Plugged (Comedy Theatre), Wicked (Apollo Victoria), Chicago (Cambridge Theatre), Rock of Ages (Shaftesbury Theatre) and was Deputy Chief Electrician at the Donmar Warehouse from 2009 to 2011.
Gregory won a Tony Award for Best Sound Design in a Play for Equus and received the New York Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design for Journey’s End.
Theatre Credits include: Twelfth Night, No Man’s Land, Tristan and Yseult, The Emperor Jones and Earthquakes in London (National Theatre), The Heart Of Robin Hood, Great Expectations, Coriolanus, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Tantalus, Cymbeline, The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Nights’ Dream (Royal Shakespeare Company), Penelope, The Hackney Office and The New Electric Ballroom (Druid), Misterman (Galway festival and New York), Testament (Dublin Festival), Pygmalion and The Philanthropist (American Airlines, Broadway), Peter Pan (Kensington Gardens and US tour), The Changeling, Troilus and Cressida (Barbican); A Month in the Country, Seven Doors, Semi-Detached, Pal Joey, Heartbreak House, A Small Family Business, I Caught My Death In Venice, Nathan The Wise, Song Of Singapore and Nymph Errant (Chichester); Pygmalion, Measure For Measure, Habeas Corpus, Private Lives, Much Ado About Nothing, Design for Living, As You Like It (The Peter Hall Company); In the Club, The Glass Room, Everything is Illuminated, Clever Dick, When the Night Begins, Revelations, The Maths Tutor (Hampstead); Loot (Tricycle); Bay and My Dad’s a Birdman (Young Vic), A Flea In Her Ear, National Anthems and Six Degrees of Separation (Old Vic), Fit and Proper People (Soho).
West End credits include: A Voyage Round My Father, The Vortex, Cloud Nine, The Philanthropist, And Then There Were None, Some Girls, Waiting For Godot, What the Butler Saw, The Dresser, Amy’s View, You Never Can Tell, Betrayal, Abigail’s Party, Journey’s End, Equus and Bedroom Farce.
Mediah Ahmed is 29 years old. She lives in North West London, working part time as an Information Support Assistant in a medical and dental library.
“I had heard about the ANGLE call out for writers in East London in 2008 but didn’t live over there so was not eligible. When I saw the call out for writers from West London, I thought I’m eligible now but is my piece good enough?!! So even to the last minute I kept changing my mind back and forth about whether I should send something in or not. I then finally decided it can’t do me any harm, I went personally to hand it in at the Bush!
“I want to share issues which affect me but I feel that I am not good enough… I am still in shock that the panel saw something in my naïve writing! But I’m really excited to see how the final thing is going to end up! I can’t wait to see and be part of the process from bringing my words from paper to stage!”
London born, Neil Daley currently works in public finance. Behind the Lines is Daley’s first attempt at writing a play.
“My mum was given a flyer outside her local supermarket and gave it to me so that I could be inspired to put one of my ideas to use. Thanks Mum. I cannot wait to see Behind The Lines staged and acted for an audience. I am also considering using it as a basis for a workshop that could be taken into schools to discuss and explore topics relating to being a youth in these times. On the opening night I guess I’ll feel like a parent watching his child’s first nativity play. Can’t wait!
“I always felt I could write a script or story if I took the chance. Finding out about the opportunity with ANGLE meant that I could take up the challenge and see how well I could actually do when I tried: no excuses. Knowing that the other applicants were also novice writers made the opportunity seem more possible.
“I am both excited and nervous about people getting to see my play on stage; butterflies for sure! As the date draws nearer, I hope that they think about whatever topics the play evoked for them and that they speak about the play with passion afterwards.”
Ade is from London. He trained at Kelly Management under the direction of Robert Kelly. ANGLE at the Bush marks Ade’s professional theatre debut. He has
just shot the Trainees pilot for E4 playing the lead role of Yemi.
Shane Zaza’s work in theatre includes: 13 (National Theatre), Mongrel Island, Realism, Furnace Four (Soho Theatre), Pieces of Vincent (Arcola Theatre), Peter Pan (National Theatre of Scotland/Barbican), Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth (Shakespeare's Globe), Oxford Street (Royal Court Theatre), Macbeth, Players (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Deadeye (Birmingham Rep/Soho Theatre), Billy Liar (Liverpool Playhouse), Mercury Fur (Paines Plough/Menier Chocolate Factory), George's Marvellous Medicine (Bolton Octagon), The Long Way Home (New Perspectives), The Master & Margarita, Kes, The Arbitrary Adventures of an Accidental Terrorist, Nicholas Nickleby (Lyric Hammersmith) and East is East (New Vic Theatre).
Shane has also worked extensively in television. His credits include Coming Up – Micah, Doctors, Mouth to Mouth, The Omid Djalili Show, Spooks, 10 Days to War, The Bill, Casualty, Weirdos, Murphy’s Law, Watch Over Me, Doctor Who, Dalziel and Pascoe, Waterloo Road and Messiah
Shane has also appeared in the films Cleanskin, Love@1stSight and The Da Vinci Code.
Sheenu Das started her career in the music industry as part of the band Spellbound, signing to East West Records and receiving a gold disc for album sales. Sheenu then moved into filmmaking. She and her sister Meneka set up Ocean Sonic Pictures and produced the short film The Audition. Sheenu went on to play a leading role in the feature film Little Box of Sweets - the film received good reviews and was in the Evening Standard’s Five Best Films list for two weeks.
Sheenu has trained in Meisner technique with Tom Radcliffe and the method with Marianna Hill and Sam Rumbelow. Previous roles in the theatre include Janet in Rope for the Midsummer Players and Agnes in The Lark for Truro Theatre Co.
Television credits include Love No War and Oh Night (both for Gormac Music) and Heaven on Earth (Channel 4).
Daniel is best known for playing Clyde Langer in the successful CBBC series The Sarah Jayne Adventures for the past 3 years. After studying at the prestigious Brit School, Daniel started his career treading the boards at The London Palladium playing young Nipper in Oliver. He then went onto the Lyceum Theatre playing Young Simba in The Lion King and even appeared in the famous Royal Variety performance.
Femi Wilhelm – Laurence in Behind The Lines
Femi Wilhelm trained at the Identity Drama School, the United Kingdom’s first black drama school. He has just completed a tour of Holloway Jones directed by Esther Baker for Synergy Theatre. Television credits include The Bill (Talkback Thames).
Mandeep trained at The Harris Drama School.
Theatre includes; The Tempest, Life (Candi Productions); New Path, Twisted Minds (Fearnhill Productions); Oliver, Annie (Wilbury Productions, Jeff Gentry).
Film includes; Some Dogs Bite.
