In episode 8 we talk to Naylah Ahmed, writer for theatre, radio and television, about her plays Mustafa and Ready or Not.

Naylah Ahmad is a writer based in Birmingham, who has written for theatre, radio, and television. Before her playwriting and screenwriting career she was an established radio drama producer with immense experience of the development of writers, ideas and story. Naylah began her career as a development producer and script editor for Silver Street an award winning BBC radio drama, she currently writes for The Archers.

Her 2012 play Mustafa, is about a man jailed for the manslaughter of a teenage boy during an exorcism, it garnered four Offie Award Nominations. Her critically acclaimed 2017 play Ready or Not is a political thriller set in a small suburban house where a middle-aged Englishman, Pat, meets a young Muslim man, Yusuf.

In this episode we talk to writer and filmmaker Satinder Chohan about her plays are Lotus Beauty and Made in India, for which she won the Adopt Playwright Award, the Eastern Eye Best Production Award, garnered an Offie Nomination and a Kalí Futures Award.

Satinder Chohan is a writer, journalist, and filmmaker. Her first play Zameen was written in 2008. Her 2017 play Made in India centres on a white British woman who travels to Gujarat, India looking for a surrogate after the death of her husband, and a village girl Aditi, for whom surrogacy is the only way out of poverty, and Dr. Gupta, a clinic owner, who connects them. It won the Adopt a Playwright Award, an Offie award nomination, the Eastern Eye Best Production Award and a Kalí Futures Award. 

Her 2022 play, Lotus Beauty, premiering at the Hampstead Theatre, set in a beauty salon in Southall, West London, and speaks to the disproportionate number of Asian Women who die by rail suicides. She also has gained acclaim for her work in audio drama, with a 2025 Tinniswood Audio Drama Award for Southall Rising.

In episode 6 we talk to writer and actor Waleed Akhtar about his plays Kabul Goes Pop: Music Television Afghanistan and The P Word.

Waleed Akhtar is a writer and actor. His debut play Kabul Goes Pop: Music Television Afghanistan (2022) at Brixton House, was inspired by the true story of Afghanistan’s first youth music TV programme. Exploring a world following the US invasion of Afghanistan the play was set to a soundtrack of early noughties’ pop. It’s centred  around two young friends, Farook and Samia, as they run a live daily broadcast, against the backdrop of a changing political landscape. 

He shortly followed this with The P Word at the Bush Theatre, a story of two gay Pakistani men,  Zafar, an asylum seeker in the UK fleeing homophobic persecution, and Bilal (or Billy as he prefers) a Londoner, whose worlds collide. The play won the Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre at the 2023 Olivier Awards. He recently released his original audio play Mrs. Bibi on Audible. 

In episde 5 we speak to writer and actor Neil D'Souza about his plays Coming Up and Out of Season.

Neil is an actor, with diverse credits, and writer, for stage and screen. His debut play Small Miracle (2007) was produced by the Tricycle Theatre (now known as The Kiln). 

His second play, Coming Up (2015), revolves around Alan, who after more than thirty years returns to Mumbai on business. As he explores the city he once knew, he uncovers truths about his late father, and is forced to come to terms with the past he turned his back on. 

His latest play, Out of Season (2024), received great critical acclaim and creates a new perspective of bachelorhood, concentrating on three former band mates returning to Ibiza hotel where it all began. As their trip falls to pieces, we settle into the void between old dreams and current realities, and how to face forward with the past. 

In episode 4 we speak to Iman Qureshi, writer for stage, screen, and radio, about her plays The Funeral Director and The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs.

Iman Qureshi is an award-winning writer of stage, screen and radio. Her breakout play The Funeral Director (2018) explores the life of a British Pakistani woman, Ayesha, who runs a Muslim funeral home with her husband Zeyd. Their already tempestuous life takes a turn when they refuse to run the funeral of a young man’s Muslim partner. They subsequently find themself sued for sexual discrimination and Ayesha is forced to confront the secrets she's hidden even from herself. This play won Papatango New Writing Prize in 2018, which later had its debut at the Southwark Playhouse followed by a tour with the English Touring Theatre.

Her next play, The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs, was put on at the Soho Theatre in 2022, and will return to the Kiln in June 2025. It centers around a lesbian choir’s mission to unite and uplift their shrinking community. 

This episode was edited by Lee Roberts.

In episode 3, we speak to playwright and screenwriter Sonali Bhattacharyya about her plays Chasing Hares and King Troll (The Fawn).

Sonali is a graduate of the Royal Court Writers’ Group, the inaugural Old Vic 12, and was also a Channel 4 Writer in Residence at the Orange Tree. Her play Chasing Hares (2022) performed at the Young Vic, is the story of a factory worker in West Bengal who is recruited to write a play. He seizes the opportunity to expose the injustice of the factory conditions, but in his fight for justice he risks his entire life and the life of his family. It won the Sonia Friedman Production Award and Theatre Uncut’s Political Playwriting Award. In addition, her play King Troll (The Fawn) (2024), is the story of two migrant sisters navigating the authoritarian immigration system in dramatically different ways, it was nominated for two Offie Awards, and made her a finalist for the Woman’s Prize for Playwriting.

In episode 2, we speak to Azma Dar - a novelist and playwright, most known for her plays Chaos and Noor.

Azma Dar is a writer for the stage, screen, and radio. She has written several works performed at venues including the Soho Theatre, Birmingham Rep and the Edinburgh Festival, and on BBC Radio. Her debut novel The Secret Arts (2015), published by Dean Street Press, won the New Ventures Writing Award, and her play Vampire in Bradford won the New Perspective Long Play Competition. 

Her 2005 play Chaos, centered on a local councillor and his family, and how their lives and dreams are thrown into turmoil post 9/11.  Her 2022 play Noor, staged at the Southwark Playhouse, is about the real story of Noor Inayat Khan, an Indian-Muslim undercover wireless operator for the British during WWII.

In episode 1 we're joined by Mohamed-Zain Dada, a playwright, screenwriter, and cultural producer.

His debut play, Blue Mist (2023), is about three British Muslim men, Jihad, Rashid, and Asif and the Shisha Lounge that acts as their safe place. Jihad, the aspiring journalist, wins a competition to produce a documentary and ends up having to navigate the tension between his own aspirations, and the community he wants to give voice to. The play premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, and was met with critical praise and won an Olivier Award nomination. 

His newest play Speed, currently on at the Bush Theatre until 17th May 2025, takes on the chaotic tale of a nurse, a delivery driver, and an entrepreneur in a speed awareness course. This unfolds into a group-therapy session as they are all confronted with the basis of their anger.

www.thenextact.co.uk

The Next Act is a brand new podcast spotlighting contemporary British South Asian theatre makers.

www.thenextact.co.uk