“They say angels come to earth at this time hovering above our houses and I think we glow for them like candles in the dark”
A muslim writer debuts play about Islamophobia at VAULT Theatre Festival 2019!
Synopsis
London. 2017. The first night of Ramadan. Rema and Mariam prepare to break the fast. Quiet, alone, and at peace, they
prepare for a night of contemplation. A crash. Glass shatters. Everything is changed.
SALAAM explores the relationship between a mother and a daughter as they face mounting Islamophobia, throwing their
lives into turmoil. Set during Ramadan 2017, the story explores mental health and the notion of gendered racial abuse.
Rema, the daughter, takes a knock to her mental health and turns to writing to heal the wounds, but she is torn between her
duty to the community and her duty to herself: how does she thrive in a country that was never built for her? Meanwhile, she
is approached by a benevolent girl from her neighbourhood, Ellie, whose offer to help may possess a more sinister ulterior
motive.
Combining live music and lyrical language, SALAAM is an experimental and political piece of theatre that charts the cycle of
Islamist terrorism and Islamophobia, and the way it affects the everyday Muslim. In writing this play, Sara Aniqah Malik has
conducted interviews with Muslim women as well as drawing on her own experience to create an authentic play that seeks to
speak the language of London today and asks us how to make a better London of tomorrow.
VAULT Festival 2019, 30 Jan – 03 Feb
The Cavern – VAULT Festival 2019 – Leake Street, London, SE1 7NN
LISTINGS
Performances: 30th January – 3rd February Wednesday – Sunday 6pm + Sunday Matinee 3pm Tickets: £15 Running Time: 60 Minutes
Written and Directed by Sara Aniqah Malik
Produced by Niall Dingle Set Design by Roisin Martindale Lighting Design by Samuel Morley
Music Composed by Kristina Arelyan
Starring Raagni Sharma, Yasmin Wilde and
Laura Waldren.