Hamza Jahanzeb

Author: Hamza Jahanzeb

  • Casting News: Shobna Gulati announced to join ‘Road’ as Jim Cartwright’s play returns to Manchester in 2026

    Shobna Gulati stuns in new trailer video for Jim Cartwright’s “Road” (1986), which was the first play to be performed at the prestigious Royal Court Theatre’s Upstairs space.

    By Hamza Jahanzeb

    04 November 2025

    The play “Road” is by far one the most revered by British playwright Jim Cartwright, and this iteration will feature Shobna Gulati, Lucy Beaumont, Lesley Joseph, Johnny Vegas, and with special guest Sir Tom Courtenay on film. I remember partaking in a study of Cartwright plays during my time at Sixth Form (studying A-Level Drama and Theatre, where I myself performed in the two-hander aptly titled “Two” – as a matter of fact! It will be great on a personal level for me to re-visit Cartwright, in this seminal play which was heralded as being a real unique portrayal of the northern working-class experience when it was originally produced.

    The play explores the lives of the people in a deprived, working class area of Lancashire (MY HOMETOWN!) during the government of Margaret Thatcher, which was a time of high unemployment in the north of England. Long before I were born, mind (I’m a 90s b*txh as the famous Icona Pop song goes).

    Despite its rather explicit nature, it was considered extremely effective in portraying the sheer desperation of people’s lives at this time, as well as containing a great deal of humour by the ladleful. Set on a road on a busy night, audiences delve into each of the houses on the street and the characters’ intricate lives.

    ‘Road’s coming round us!‘

    It’s 1986. Your rumbustious chaperone Scullery guides you down the road, picking up the raucous and the ready for it, as ‘owt can happen tonight’. From dusk till dawn, the hopelessly hilarious and divinely desperate laugh, sing, dance and eat chips – all searching for something different.

    Jim Cartwright’s award-winning play invites you to immerse yourself into the lives of the inhabitants on an unforgettable journey. At time, shockingly relevant to our lives today the play’s visceral, eloquent poetry paints a tough world with tenderness.

    Directed by Royal Exchange Theatre’s Artistic Director Selina Cartmell (the original iteration was directed by Simon Curtis),, this revival will mark the 40th anniversary of the play itself and 70-years since the Royal Exchange opened. Touted by the producing house as an ‘exhilarating theatrical experience’, audiences are going to be invited to explore the Royal Exchange before taking their seats in the theatre. Can I get an ‘Ooooh’?

    ‘You want something different. Stay, I mean it.’

    Do comment if you’ve been to the Royal Exchange in Manchester, or if this would be of interest to you? I’d love to hear where you lovely readers are from, and what it would take for you to go to Manchester. I really hope you’ll take some time to spend a weekend up north, and see Lanky Twang (the Lancashire accent) as I do miss hearing the familiar tones of the streets I grew up in myself.

    I love hearing what you go along to, and what sorts of productions get you excited to return to the darkened theatre to watch a performance.

    You can watch the trailer, here.

    Ciao for now, poppets!

    Hamza Jahanzeb
    CEO, hamzajahanzeb.co.uk

    xoxo

  • REVIEW: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hadestown 📍Walter Kerr Theatre / Wakefield’s very own Jack Wolfe offers a fresh and unique portrayal of Orpheus in this smash-hit show blending angelic vocals with steely acting chops making his Broadway debut a triumph

    📰: Read the full review by becoming a paid subscriber: hamzajahanzeb.substack.com

     

  • The BFI National Archive unveils Black and South Asian Workshop remasters at the 2025 BFI London Film Festival

    The BFI National Archive unveils Black and South Asian Workshop remasters at the 2025 BFI London Film Festival

    By Hamza Jahanzeb

    8 September 2025

    Retake Film and Video Collective’s co-founder, Ahmed Alauddin Jamal’s HOTEL LONDON (1987), will be  remastered in 4K by the BFI National Archive and have a world premiere at the BFI London Film festival, screening on 16 October with the director/scriptwriter Ahmed Alauddin Jamal in attendance.

    HOTEL LONDON explores the housing crisis that plagued the city in the 1980s (still painfully relevant today), racial discrimination and the South Asian experience of trying to make a home in Britain.



    HOTEL LONDON is part of a wider BFI National Archive remasters project in recognition of the cultural/political significance and enduring legacy of the highly influential Black and South Asian British Workshop movement, including Retake, who were actively producing collaborative independent filmmaking throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

    Known for their issue-driven films working across drama, documentary and experimental modes, these collective groups made urgent, searching films about the multiplicity of the Black and South Asian experience in the UK. The workshops successfully developed partnerships with funding bodies such as the BFI, Arts Council, local authorities, voluntary organisations and the newly established television broadcaster Channel Four.



    The fertile Workshops era was instrumental in bringing Black and South Asian British stories to wider public audiences through the medium of film and television, at a time when there was little media representation and often only in stereotypes.  This wider representation was also reflected behind the camera, nurturing a network of emerging Black and South Asian British creative talent including Ahmed Alauddin Jamal, John Akomfrah, Maureen Blackwood, Isaac Julien, Menelik Shabazz and D. Elmina Davis.



    Underpinning HOTEL LONDON’s premiere at the London Film Festival is the BFI National Archive’s ambitious plans, which they say is to remaster the breadth of the workshop canon, including films made by Retake, Sankofa, the Black Audio Film Collective, Ceddo and Birmingham Film and Video Workshop, amongst others, with 14 remasters already underway.

    HOTEL LONDON is only the second title in this project to be premiered at the BFI London Film Festival. In 2022, the 4K remaster of THE PASSION OF REMEMBRANCE (1986) premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and New York Film Festival

    Made for the International Year of the Homeless, HOTEL LONDON follows a Bangladeshi family confronted by the harsh realities of temporary unstable housing in London, in a drama that blends fiction with video activism.  Placed in a bed and breakfast by the local authority, the family encounter other people from different backgrounds who are also are waiting to be housed, their plight depicted with sensitivity, irony and humour. Jonathan Pryce (Miss Saigon) plays an Irish rough sleeper who drifts around London.

    Filmed in an actual bed and breakfast after months of research with homeless people, the film professes to still be a somewhat timely piece of work almost 40 years on, weaving an urgent political message into its emotionally resonant, character-driven narrative, with the British South Asian film collective fusing education, training and production.

    HOTEL LONDON has been newly remastered in 4K ‘Remastered from the 16mm original negative A & B rolls and 16mm sound negative preserved by the BFI National Archive. 4K scanning and picture remastering by Silver Salt Restoration. Sound scanned and remastered by the BFI National Archive.

    The emergence of the Black and South Asian workshop filmmaking came out of a wider workshop movement during a period of intense social and political unrest and civil uprisings in the UK. The ACCT (now BECTU) Workshop Declaration of 1982, came in the same year as the launch of broadcaster Channel Four, giving financial support and a platform for championing independent, contemporary storytelling from a range of underrepresented voices in the UK. Those collectives working under the rules of the ACTT Declaration became Franchised Workshops; non-profit distributing companies with at least a minimum of four full time paid workers.

    Retake Film and Video Collective was Britain’s first all-Asian collective, and one of the first Black or Asian workshops to be set up as a ‘franchised workshop’ in the early 1980s. Its work brought British South Asian stories to television audiences at a time when Asians were unrepresented onscreen in contemporary culture, film and television. Retake’s members adhered closely to the ideals of working collaboratively, being democratic and making cultural-political films. Retake outfitted film and video editing rooms, camera and sound equipment as well as offering production courses and courses on the history of cinema. The very name ‘Retake’had spoke to a broader collective effort which was to retake the means of representation and what it meant to be Black and South Asian British in contemporary Britain at the time. In recognition of their work Retake were awarded the Arthur Young BFI award for Independent Film and Television in 1988.

    MAJDHAR, Retake’s first film release (currently being remastered by the BFI National Archive) was screened at the BFI London Film Festival in 1984 and was broadcast on the UK’s Channel Four in 1985. It was a watershed moment in diasporic cinema that paved the way for later films such as Stephen Frears’ MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDERETTE (1985) and the Black Audio Film Collective’s HANDSWORTH SONGS (1986), which was filmed using Retake’s camera equipment and Sebastian Shah, a Retake member, as the film’s lighting camerman.

    Titles currently being remastered by the BFI National Archive include, MIRROR MIRROR (1980, Yugesh Walia, West Midlands Arts), SWEET CHARIOT (1981, Yugesh Walia, Birmingham Film and Video Workshop), BLOOD AH GO RUN (1982, Menelik Shabazz, Kuumba), AFRICAN OASIS (1982, Yugesh Walia, Birmingham Film and Video Workshop), MAJDHAR (1984, Ahmed Alauddin Jamal, Retake), STREET WARRIORS (1986, Imruh Bakari, Ceddo), OMEGA RISING (1988, D. Elmina Davis, Ceddo), PERFECT IMAGE? (1988, Maureen Blackwood, Sankofa), TIME AND JUDGEMENT – A DIARY OF A 400 YEAR EXILE (1988, Menelik Shabazz, Ceddo), BLUE NOTES AND EXILED VOICES (1991, Imruh Bakari, Ceddo), FAMILY CALLED ABREW (1992, Maureen Blackwood, Sankofa), HOME AWAY FROM HOME (1993, Maureen Blackwood, Sankofa)


    HOTEL LONDON

    Director-Screenwriter Ahmed Alauddin Jamal

    With Jonathan Pryce, Alpana Sengupta, Aftab Sachak. 

    UK 1987. Colour. 52min. 4K Digital.  Remastered by the BFI National Archive.

    Courtesy of First Take Limited.

  • Armstrong’s RepresentAsian 2025 casts Tony Nominee Conrad Ricamora to join its cast for one-night fundraising concert

    Armstrong’s RepresentAsian 2025 casts Tony Nominee Conrad Ricamora to join its cast for one-night fundraising concert

    By Hamza Jahanzeb

    4 September 2025

    The Founder and Casting Director, Benjamin Armstrong, has announced a special guest from the other side of the Atlantic for RepresentAsian: An Evening of Asian Talent. ThenWest End concert – for one night only on Monday 13th October, 2025 at the Lyric Theatre – will now also include Conrad Ricamora (How to Get Away With Murder), who I had the pleasure to see in Here Lies Love (the Imelda Marcos-inspired Musical on Broadway). See below a snap I took from the curtain call!

    Conrad Ricamora in Here Lies Love (2023)

    At a time when there is a dearth of Asian talent (as well as rising fascist sentiments across the UK), it is so critical to support initiatives that encourage more representation in the world of theatre.

    The concert is to also help fund a scholarship for young, Asian individuals to train in the arts, and widen the talent pool partnering up with The Boury Academy, in collaboration with Conrad Ricamora’s “The Right To Be There” initiative.

    Conrad Ricamora

    CONRAD RICAMORA recently originated the role of Abraham Lincoln in the Broadway hit Oh, Mary!, earning a Tony Award nomination. He is currently filming The Devil Wears Prada 2 and will next appear in Killer Films’ The Last Day, opposite Alicia Vikander and Victoria Pedretti. On television, Ricamora is known for How To Get Away With Murder(ABC), The Resident (FOX), and Dying for Sex (FX) opposite Michelle Williams. His film credits include the Emmy-nominated, Gotham Award-winning Fire Island. A veteran of New York theater, he has appeared in Here Lies Love(originating his role at The Public Theater), The King and I, Little Shop of Horrors, and Soft Power, earning Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominations. He is also a two-time Grammy Award nominee as a principal vocalist on Broadway cast recordings.

    Conrad Ricamora had the following to share: “I’m honored that RepresentAsian reached out and invited me to be part of this incredible night in London. The work they’re doing with The Boury Academy — creating real opportunities for young Asian artists — resonates deeply with me. Partnering with them feels like a natural extension of my own scholarship fund, The Right to Be There. I’m thrilled to be making my West End debut while joining forces across the Atlantic to invest in the next generation of talent.” Armstrong says “Representation matters a great deal to me, as a mixed race individual, and I want to give back to the Asian community. Providing access and opportunities to young people is how to widen the talent pool, strengthen representation and hopefully inspire others to commit to inclusivity and diversity in the arts. I can’t wait to share this show with a West End audience.”

    The creative team includes Ben Armstrong (Founder and Casting Director), with designs by Ghostlight Productions, and further creative team members to be confirmed. Produced by Aixa Amarante Productions

    Book your tickets: https://nimaxtheatres.com/shows/representasian-an-evening-of-asian-talent/

    Find out more about The Boury Academy: https://www.thebouryacademy.co.uk/

  • REVIEW: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Eat The Rich (but maybe not me mates x)

    REVIEW: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Eat The Rich (but maybe not me mates x)

    Franks and Shamiso join forces to create an unforgettable, daring and hilarity-filled show offering an honest glimpse into being working class and making it to Oxbridge

    By Hamza Jahanzeb

    2 August 2025

    Right, I’ve got a story to brag about. Want to know why, eh? Well, I bought a ticket for Eat The Rich (but maybe not me mates x) a.k.a ETR for a meagre £13, when it was announced earlier in the year that Jade Franks’ (Liberation Squares) collaboration with Tatenda Shamiso (No I.D., A Streetcar Named Desire) was initially announced. I was truly excited. Now, throw into the mix one of the producers behind For Black Boys … in one Jasmyn Fisher-Ryan of JFR Productions, and I was well and truly sold.

    WHAT IS THE SHOW ABOUT?

    The show’s billed nas the following:

    If there’s one thing worse than classism and the disparity of wealth in this country… It’s FOMO. The plot of Hannah Montana. If Hannah Montana was a Scouser. And instead of a pop star leading a double life, she is a Cambridge Student trying to conceal the fact she is working as a cleaner. ETR is a comedy which demonstrates the myth of meritocracy, the sacrifices we make to get ahead and who, in the end, these decisions will always disproportionately affect. Jade Franks Fringe debut.

    Everyone, at some point, will have to try to break away from the double life they lead. That’s what I believe is the success of this show, for it resonates with so many people for different reasons. In the case of Jade in the play, she’s the first person in her family to go to university, Jade has had to learn another world of code-switching. Not only that, there is also the (exhausting) mental gymnastics that come with this one of the world’s revered institutions being a place where the upper echelons mingle, coupled with age-old practices (latin, anyone?) that hone in on the way some educational institutions across the UK are still stuck in the past.

    There’s a brief momentary whistle-stop tour of Jade pre-Cambridge days. These come in the call centre’ and the characters on the phone, each delivered with gusto and real convincing. I also loved that the play’s dramaturgist worked extremely hard in ensuring that the supporting characters allo have distinct and separate mannerisms Further, we all have played bingo. Hence why the effective wording of the types of callers who call – along with the wider and more repugnant stereotypes of Liverpool are quite telling on insular worldviews. Jade flies the flag for Liverpool moving from the maritime city towards her ‘big’ Cambridge college. The deliberate not naming if this was really effective in heightening a moment of comedy. At the university, whilst not really being supposed to, Jade takes on a cleaning job with Chrystyna, whom Jade carries out her shifts with. As well as this, we meet some other characters: from ‘Tilly, Milly & Gilly’ to Greg who is a soon-to-be love interest from a total wank-tastic rah-rah background. Coupled finally in with her sister Laura (Franks steals the scene whereby there’s a riotous formal dinner), we are all living in Jade’s world told through the main actor (Franks).


    WHAT WAS IT LIKE?

    Really intimate, Off the bat, we know that this show’s sparse set – a desk, with the stylised title plastered across it, and a baby pink stool – means this will need someone with massive stage presence to command a small intimate audience. And boy does Franks certainly fills that in this clever, meaningful and witty play. Also, as someone who is visiting the Edinburgh Fringe (in 2025) for the first time the space where ETR takes place is ‘Bunker 1’ and barely seats forty punters. It’s an actual bunker, and the fellow audience members have all paid – like me – to see Ms. Jade Franks. The intimacy offered in the space only elevated the action from the one-woman show: an impressive feat, where the dialogue sparks multiple occurrences of familiarity making audience members instantly at east. I had a gentleman sat near to me who raved about the fact they had come to watch as they are a Liverpool Football Club (the poster for the show displays Franks in a LFC jersey). Yet they too were just so impressed – like me – with the astute awareness of Franks in creating a world where the underdog is going to be a winner.

    Along the way, both Franks and Shamiso take the audience on their own Scouse inauguration, if you were. It’s lucid storytelling, bringing real moments of heartbreak, laughter and immense joy that make you care. You’ll feel the highs and low, and are ricocheted into the demise when an important plot point is revealed (not mentioning this, as you need to watch it to find out!). Ultimately, the piece stirs a lot of insights that never were presented in staged works, and evokes feelings of anger against injustices yet at the same time allows you to quietly ruminate. There are references to ‘genocide’, and it feels like it’s on the right side of history.

    In short, if you can bottle this show into a feeling, I would carry it around with me as a bottle of tonic. It fizzes, sparkles and also lifts you up.

    For me, some the most engaging pieces of theatre are those whereby the words of the playwright zing off of the page, and they do that and then some. Franks’ marvellous Jade had each and everyone of the audience members in the palm of her hand of the audience. There is minimal interaction, but is enough to break the fourth wall but still provide a riveting of whom Franks interacts with at the right moments. There is a precise line delivery at all times, and even an impressively drink break that is cleverly moulded into the action the text presents. All in all, the audience like myself were gripped by the seamless unravelling of the drama. Oh boy, there’s lots of it. Namely due to the person Jade is dating (Greg) being an engineer and from a whole other world (never mind the class!).

    During the show, I also have to remark to also state how great I felt that the direction by Tatenda Shamiso was. When the character of Denise (the co-worker in the call centre) is propped, her legs switch in a manner that is consistent. the bending of the knee creates a mannerism which identifies them.

    Similarly, there is Lighting design – by Zoe Beeny – is subtle, but rather effective in this piece. There are some dream sequences (three, off the top of my head if I remember correctly) which felt so realistic. Not least as they are enhanced by a bright pink light that bathes Franks as she plays Jade in such earnest and believability. These scene stealing moments are envisaged and executed with intention, integrity and comedic timing.

    Moreover, no seat is a bad seat in this show, and I’d recommend that you snap up your tickets to this show early. For once the Fringe in Edinburgh ends, this polished piece has legs, and an ability to transcend generations and show relevance in today’s Britain meaning it is ready-cooked show prepared for take off (quite literally!) in other theatre spaces. I can envisage this already in half a dozen British producing houses, myself.

    I was delighted to have earlier picked up a leaflet promoting the show ( which was much more innovative than other shows I hasten to add, with it being printed rectangular purple twenty pound note-shaped flyer with Jade wearing her hair in rollers). Hilarious. I seemed to have also made a new friend in the aunt Joy, who said how she’d supported her in previous plays and productions. An endearing family affair, if you were. I positioned myself, and I was captivated. Throughout this play, Franks delivers poignant, heartwarming and witty piece as delivered with pizzazz.

    If anything, I know that a certain (Queen) Jodie Comer would be a great Jade character were it to go for TV or Film (I am praying hard for this eventuality), and I look forward to seeing it performed up and down the country; and to me, a play like this ought to even be considered to show class-related issues on the British curriculum.

    As much as it chastises the upper classes for being so mindless, it does offer an intrinsic examination of how ‘diversity initiatives’ are hollow and tend to serve the well-to-do in mere box-ticking exercises.

    This is a remarkable and unforgettable play from two of Britain’s brightest theatrical minds, and one you wouldn’t want to miss if you’re in Edinburgh for the 2025 Fringe festival.

    🎟️Until 25 August only: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/eat-the-rich-but-maybe-not-me-mates-x

  • Casting News: RSC announces John Leader as the BFG in forthcoming stage adaptation of Roald Dahl classic

    By Hamza Jahanzeb

    01 August 2025

    John Leader, who is set to play the BFG character in Roald Dahl’s work adapted for the stage by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)

    The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Chichester Festival Theatre and the Roald Dahl Story Company, have announced that John Leader will step into the oversized shoes of Roald Dahl’s beloved character, the BFG.

    On being announced to play one of British storytelling’s favourite characters for the stage, John Leader said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be playing such an iconic character who means so much to so many people. Everyone has their own picture of the BFG, so it’s really exciting (and a bit surreal!) to help bring him to life on stage. It’s a real joy to be collaborating with Daniel and such a talented team of creatives on this story, and I can’t wait for audiences to experience it. Having grown up in Birmingham and trained at Stratford College, coming back to the RSC for a role like this honestly feels very special – a real full-circle moment.”

    John was last seen with the RSC in The Merry Wives of Windsor and The School for Scandal, both in 2024. His previous theatre credits include Wuthering Heights, Peter Pan and War Horse at the National Theatre, A Monster Calls at The Old Vic and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at the Bridge Theatre.

    Director and RSC Co-Artistic Director Daniel Evans said: “Finding the actor to play our eponymous hero, BFG, has been a giant undertaking in so many ways. We knew that this crucial bit of casting was an essential piece of the puzzle. After all, it is the BFG, alongside Sophie and The Queen, who are the main trio of our story. Through each other’s friendship and allyship, they find the imagination and the strength to defeat the human-guzzling giants and save children everywhere.


    John Leader brings immense warmth, generosity and humility to the role – all essential qualities for our BFG. He also has a gleaming and vivid imagination. John will be working alongside a highly skilled team of puppeteers as part of a cast of eighteen, to bring Tom Wells’ magical new script to the stage and we look forward to sharing more exciting casting news within the coming weeks.”

    Based on Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s novel, this magical new stage adaptation by Tom Wells (The Kitchen Sink, Jumpers for Goalposts) will open at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon for a 10-week run during the festive season in 2025.

    One extraordinary night, a young orphan named Sophie is snatched by a giant and taken far away to Giant Country.


    There she learns that human-eating giants are guzzling ‘norphans’ the world over. But she soon discovers that her new friend, the BFG, is different – he’s a dream-catching, snozzcumber-munching gentle soul who refuses to eat humans.



    While other giants terrorise the world, the BFG ignites Sophie’s imagination, and they devise a daring plan to save children everywhere. In the end, the smallest human bean and the gentlest giant prove that a dream can change the world.

    The BFG will be performed at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from 25 November 2025 – 31 January 2026.

    The production will subsequently run at Chichester Festival Theatre from Monday 9 March – Saturday 11 April 2026. Booking will open in September 2025, with further details and the full schedule announced with CFT’s Winter season.


    Joining Daniel and Tom on the creative team is Puppetry Designer and Director, Toby Olié; Set Designer, Vicki Mortimer; Costume Designer, Kinnetia Isidore; Lighting Designer, Zoe Spurr; Video Designer, Akhila Krishnan; Illusions, Chris Fisher; Composer, Oleta Haffner; Sound Designer, Carolyn Downing; Choreographer and Movement Director, Ira Mandela Siobhan; Puppetry Co-Designer, Daisy Beattie; and Senior Set Design Associate, Matt Hellyer. The Casting Director is Christopher Worrall CDG; and the Children’s Casting Director is Verity Naughton CDG.

    So, what do we think? Is this a show you’d like to see? Do leave a comment below 👇🏽

  • EXCLUSIVE: Shobna Gulati returns to the West End stage in transfer of National Theatre’s lauded production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest

    One of Lancashire’s finest actors, writers and dancers to play Miss Prism in stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest at the Noël Coward Theatre on St. Martin’s Lane.

    By Hamza Jahanzeb

    31 July 2025

    It’s Shobna Gulati’s world and we’re all living in it, right?

    Gulati is a British household name, from Oldham in Lancashire, and a stalwart of Britain’s most recognisable actors who returns to the West End stage this Autumn.They last performed on the Apollo Theatre stage in 2018 for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and last year at the Dorfman (National Theatre) in Tanika Guptas Tupperware of Ashes. Shobna is to play the role of Miss Prism in Oscar Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest joining already announced Olly Alexander (Algernon Moncrieff), Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Jack Worthing), Hugh Dennis (Rev. Canon Chasuble), Kitty Hawthorne (Gwendolen Fairfax), Jessica Whitehurst (Cecily Cardew), Hayley Carmichael (Merriman/Lane) and Stephen Fry (Lady Bracknell).

    Their talent knows no bounds, as they have traversed the worlds of dance, television and theatre. Gulati’s last turn at the National Theatre was at the Dorfman Theatre, playing Indira in Tanika Gupta’s A Tupperware of Ashes. Their full theatre and television credits are mightily impressive and include: dinnerladies, Coronation Street, Doctor Who, Hullraisers, Midsomer Murders, My Name Is Leon, Inside No 9, Vera, Mr Bigstuff, Mamma Mia, Grease, Anita & Me, Richard II, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and most recently on stage at the Leeds Playhouse in Through It All Together.

    This ‘bold and brash Wilde reboot’ (★★★★ The Times) will run for a limited season at the Noël Coward Theatre, a Delfont Mackintosh Theatre, in a co-production with Sonia Friedman Productions, from 18 September 2025 until 10 January 2026. Also described as a ‘sparkling new production’ (★★★★★ Daily Mail), it is directed by Max Webster remarked for being a joyful and flamboyant reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s most celebrated comedy.

    Max Webster had the following to share:

    “Oscar Wilde was a master of elegance, rebellion, and razor-sharp wit. With this cast we’re embracing the play’s subversive heart in a way that feels utterly now. I’d like to think Wilde would be delighted – and perhaps even a little scandalised – by this bold, joyful take on his most iconic comedy.”

    Being sensible can be excessively boring. At least Jack thinks so.

    While assuming the role of dutiful guardian in the country, he lets loose in town under a false identity. Meanwhile, his friend Algy takes on a similar facade.

    Unfortunately, living a double life has its drawbacks, especially when it comes to love. Hoping to impress two eligible ladies, the gentlemen find themselves caught in a web of lies they must carefully navigate.

    Max Webster is an award-winning theatre director, specialising in spectacular new work, opera and live music events. Recent acclaimed productions include Macbeth (Donmar Warehouse/West End), Life of Pi (Sheffield Theatres/West End/Broadway), Henry V (Donmar Warehouse) and The Lorax (Old Vic). He was Associate Director at the Old Vic from 2015 until 2019 and at the Donmar Warehouse from 2020 until 2024.

    ‘This exuberant production’ (★★★★ The i) also features the work of set and costume designer Rae Smith, lighting designer Jon Clark, sound designer Nicola T. Chang, movement director Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, composer DJ Walde and casting director Alastair Coomer CDG. They are joined by associate director Aaliyah McKay, associate set designer Tim Blazdell, associate costume designer Johanna Coe, associate lighting designer Hector Murray and associate sound designer Chris Reid. Completing the creative team are, physical comedy advisor Joyce Henderson, intimacy coordinator Ingrid Mackinnon and dialect coach Hazel Holder.

    Webster’s ‘Wilde party of irresistible anarchic charm’ (★★★★ The Guardian) was first performed in the Lyttelton Theatre from 21 November 2024 until 25 January 2025. Following a sold-out run at the National Theatre, it was subsequently released to cinemas worldwide through National Theatre Live. Over 165,000 people in the UK have watched ‘this joyous production’ (★★★★ The i).

    *Over 20,000 tickets are available for under £30 across the upcoming West End run*

    The National Theatre production of The Importance of Being Earnest is co-produced with Sonia Friedman Productions.

    In association with No Guarantees, Playing Field and Winkler & Smalberg.

    🎟️: What’re you waiting for, get yer’ tickets here: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/the-importance-of-being-earnest/

    Also, Shobna Gulati’s memoir: Remember Me? published a few years ago can also be purchased here: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/shobna-gulati/remember-me/9781914240584/

  • FIRST LOOK: Birmingham Hippodrome to debut world premiere of new two hander musical Hot Mess starring former Six and Mamma Mia star at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2025

    FIRST LOOK: Birmingham Hippodrome to debut world premiere of new two hander musical Hot Mess starring former Six and Mamma Mia star at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2025

    Tobias Turley (Mamma Mia!) and Danielle Steers  (SIX the Musical) in Hot Mess which has its world premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2025. Photo Credit: Mark Senior

    hamzajahanzeb.co.uk is excited to share the first behind-the-scenes look at a new romcom musical from award-winning creative duo behind 42 Balloons and the UK’s only in-house New Musical Theatre department based in Birmingham’s Hippodrome theatre.

    A new high-energy original romcom musical? I say inject it! Ahead of its world premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe, here are some new photos of the production starting Danielle Steers as Earth and Tobias as Humanity in Hot Mess. Brought to the 2025 Fringe by the Birmingham Hippodrome in association with Vicky Graham Productions.

    Tobias Turley (Mamma Mia!) and Danielle Steers  (SIX the Musical) in Hot Mess which has its world premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2025. Photo Credit: Mark Senior

    What is ‘Hot Mess’ about?


    After a billion years of bad dates, Earth’s finally found the one… Humanity. Sparks fly. Wheat is harvested. Technology flourishes. But what begins as a passionate love affair between the universe’s most iconic couple quickly descends into a Hot Mess.

    What the creators are saying?

    Created by the award-winning creative duo behind 42 Balloons  – Jack Godfrey (Babies: The New Musical) and Ellie Coote (co-founder of Chalk Musical Theatre Dramaturgy)- the self-styled pop comedy musical duo promise to take audiences to the heart of the tempestuous relationship between characters Earth and Humanity.

    Jack Godfrey and Ellie Coote has the following to share, about their new creation Hot Mess: “We’re so thrilled that Danielle Steers and Tobias Turley will be starring in the world premiere of Hot Mess at the Edinburgh Fringe. We can’t quite believe we get to work with such an exciting pair of actors to bring Earth and Humanity’s turbulent relationship to life this summer.

    “Hot Mess is really a love story about Earth and Humanity – an unlikely romance between an entire species, and an entire planet – who have spent 200,000 years just trying to make their relationship work. We hope audiences will fall in love with these characters, and want to root for them, even in their darkest moments.

    “We’re so excited to share Hot Mess with fringe audiences, and we can’t wait to bring this original new musical to Edinburgh this week!”

    CASTING:

    Photo credit: Mark Senior

    Danielle Steers has performed as Catherine Parr in hit-show SIX The Musical (2019 – 2021), Lady in the UK tour of The Cher Show and Marsha in Just for One Day at the Old Vic.

    Tobias Turley was the winner of ITV’s Mamma Mia! I Have A Dream and went on to play the leading role of Sky in the West End production of Mamma Mia! at the Novello Theatre, London. Turley also performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in 2024.

    Joining the team alongside 42 Balloons creative duo  Ellie Coote and Jack Godfrey are Tony and Grammy nominated Paul Gatehouse (Sound Designer), Joe Beighton (Musical Supervisor and Co-orchestrator), Alexzandra Sarmiento (Movement Director), Shankho Chaudhuri (Set and Costume Designer), Ryan Joseph Stafford (Lighting Designer), Issie Osborne (Musical Director), Deirdre O’Halloran (Dramaturg), Lex Kaby (Intimacy Director), Charlie Smith (Associate Sound Designer), Caroline Mirfin (Costume Supervisor), James Ashfield (Producer), Vicky Graham for Vicky Graham Productions (Executive Producer), Finlay Carroll (Assistant Producer), Callie Barter (Stage One Trainee Producer),  Emily Humphrys (Deputy Stage Manager), Christopher Ball and Emily Obasohan (Production Managers) with casting by Pearson Casting CDG.

    Is this a show you’d want to see?

    Let me know in the comments, below!

    Tickets can be bought using the following link: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/hot-mess

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  • The Old Vic announces Susan Sarandon and Andrea Riseborough to star in Tracy Letts’ Mary Page Marlowe from September 2025

    09/07/25

    90 minutes.

    70 years.

    11 scenes.

    5 Marys.

    1 extraordinary life.


    Starring Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon  and Academy Award nominee Andrea Riseborough, The Old Vic theatre presents the UK premiere of this vivid time-jumping mosaic of one woman’s life, by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts.

    For Mary Page Marlowe, the cards seem stacked against her from start.

    A cradle-to-grave jigsaw puzzle, this disordered montage of a bruising life evolves into an extraordinary tribute to the very act of living.

    Directed by Matthew Warchus (Matilda the Musical, Ghost the Musical), the creative team announced today includes Set & Costume by Rob Howell, Lighting by Hugh Vanstone, Sound by Simon Baker, Casting by Jim Carnahan with further cast and creative team to be announced.

     

  • Dreamstate – Ministry of Stories launches interactive experience with children at the heart of the initiative

    Dreamstate – Ministry of Stories launches interactive experience with children at the heart of the initiative

     

    08 July 2025

    Hamza Jahanzeb

    London – The East  London  based  charity  Ministry  of  Stories,  co-founded  by  Nick  Hornby,  announces  DreamState  –  a  free  multi-sensory  experience  designed  to  immerse  visitors  in  a  world  of  imagination.  It  will  run  at  The  Ditch  at  Shoreditch  Town  Hall  between Monday 28th July and Saturday 2nd August.

    Well, what exactly is DreamState, I hear you ask?

    It is  a  pop-up  experience  that  invites  visitors  of  all  ages  to  discover  interactive  zones  exploring  themes  from  nostalgia  and  relaxation  to  celebration  and  creativity.  The  experience  brings  to  life  original  work  by  112  writers  –  all  of  whom  are  children  based  in the local Hackney area  aged  between  6  and  15  who  attend  Ministry  of  Stories  weekly  community  writing  labs.

    DreamState  features  eight  separate  rooms,  with  unique  worlds  tied  to  the  stories  written  at  the  Ministry  of  Stories  community  writing  labs.  The  space  will  include  a  banqueting  hall  featuring  the  written  word  as  the  meal;  a  serene  zone  to  help  visitors  relax;  a  nostalgia  filled  locker  room  that  evokes  childhood  memories;  a  celebration  room  filled  with  glitter  and  confetti  where  visitors  can  party  with  a  neon  leopard;  an  eerie  room  complete  with  a  scariness  scale  so  that  guests  can  choose  the  level  of  spooky  that  they  are  comfortable  with;  a  botanist  workshop  with  strange  new  plants  that  people  may  have  never  encountered;  the  control  room  where  the  ideas  stem  from;  and  finally  the  ‘dream  dream’  room,  which  will  ask  visitors what dream they would most like to have tonight.

    Who are Ministry of Stories?

    Ministry  of  Stories  was  co-founded  by  author  Nick  Hornby  in  2010  and  aims  to  champion  the  writer  in  every  child.  It  helps  young  people  in  East  London  discover  their  confidence,  imagination  and  potential  through  the  power  of  their  writing.  Working  primarily  with  young  children  in  Tower  Hamlets,  Hackney  and  Islington,  the  organisation  has  supported  over  20,000  young  people  in  the  local  community  since  its  launch  through  its  free  weekly  community writing labs.

    Ministry  of  Stories  is  partnering  with  architecture  and  design  studio  make:good  to  bring  to  life  DreamState.  The organisation works  closely  with  local  communities  to  shape  neighbourhood  change  and  support  communities  to  create  lasting  social  infrastructure.  They  have  also  partnered  with  Shoreditch  Town  Hall  who  will  be  hosting  the  experience  at  its  basement  venue,  The  Ditch.  Funding  partners  include  Hackney  Council,  funded  by  Cultural  Hackney,  Bridge Foundation, Arts Council England and Violence Reduction Unit, Mayor of London.

    Rob  Smith,  Director,  Ministry  of  Stories  said:  “Ministry  of  Stories  has  been  supporting  local  children  and  championing  their  writing  for  fifteen  years  and  we  are  honoured  to  be  presenting  their  work  to  the  world  in  our  most  ambitious  showcase  to  date.  The  children  who  take  part  in  our  community  writing  labs  are  imaginative,  fun  and  playful  so  there  is  no  better  way  to  show  you  their  work  than  with  DreamState.  It  will  bring  to  life  dreams,  memories  and  stories,  transporting  guests  to  a  world  beyond  their  imagination.  Stumble  into  a  dream  and  discover  strange  new  plants,  some  ghostly  shenanigans  or  a  glitter  party.  DreamState  will  be  an unforgettable experience for visitors of all ages.”

     Trejean, aged 14 said:  “Ministry of Stories: Best.  Experience. Ever.”

     Raniya, aged 8 said:  “I have learnt to just believe  in myself.”

    DreamState will be  open  from  Monday 28 th    July  to  Saturday  2nd August  at  The  Ditch,  at  Shoreditch  Town  Hall  with  time  slots  available  throughout  the  day.  The  entire  experience  will  last around 45 minutes and tickets are now available to purchase via: https://shoreditchtownhall.com/whats-on/dreamstate .