10 Nights – Bush Theatre, London

A review of 10 Nights, a new play by Shahid Iqbal Khan brought to the Bush Theatre by Graeae and Tamasha theatre companies. An exercise in creative accessibility has led the source material in new directions.

10 Nights

10 Nights is an interesting new piece of theatre by writer Shahid Iqbal Khan. It is written as a monologue; a single actor playing the character of Yasser and speaking lines as secondary characters. The play takes place mostly in a mosque, where Yasser has decided to take part in Itikaf. If you, like me, need to educate yourself on Itikaf, what I can tell you in a nutshell is that it is an Islamic practice involving staying in a mosque for a certain period, devoting yourself to worship and prayer. It is frequently, as here, associated with Ramadan.

So the action of the play takes place over 10 nights of Itikaf. Yasser is initially unsure of his decision to take part. Gradually, through the process of meditation and reflection, he comes to terms with certain truths he has been running from. Some of these involve his friend Aftab, played here in a break from the monologue format of the play by Safyan Iqbal. In another break from the monologue format, Sumayya Si-Tayeb plays an interesting dual function; mostly BSL interpreter, and also stand-in for Aftab’s girlfriend Aneela.

I found the play itself to be interesting. It’s not entirely uncommon to have an unreliable narrator in a monologue format, but the process of revelation here is particularly effective. The mosque setting is successful, although I didn’t pick up on the couple of times that the setting moved elsewhere until I read the text later on. There were a couple of other moments like this; quite a few layers sit on top of the original monologue in the end. As I will explain shortly this had the effect of dividing my concentration somewhat. But in terms of seeing new stories on the stage, this is an exciting addition to the London theatre landscape.

Creative Accessibility

Two very interesting theatre companies bring 10 Nights to the Bush. Graeae place Deaf and disabled actors front and centre and challenge preconceptions. Tamasha Theatre Company bring stories from the global majority to the stage. Both thus have a strong history of centering lesser known voices and stories. In 10 Nights, these values manifest themselves in a radically creative approach to accessibility and inclusivity. This play is not only in both English and BSL as I mentioned earlier but has surtitles in English and Urdu; relaxed performances for the whole run; access to a separate chillout space if needed.

I am not by any means taking the spiritual importance and commitment of Itikaf lightly. But I found myself pondering some parallels as I made my way home after the performance. As I’ve written about before, I can be a little easily distracted. For me, synthesising input from three sources at any one time (spoken word, BSL and surtitles) was a lot. Like Yasser, I had to try to strip away the distractions and the unimportant in order to focus on the essential. For me this was really immersing myself in the plot and the language of the play. For Yasser it was admitting some important truths to himself and renewing his relationship with Allah. This play makes some important points about understanding intentions over actions; I hope that my intention in making this parallel comes across.

The relaxed performance element of 10 Nights was not as prominent as I thought it might have been. The Bush Theatre do a good job of signposting this expectation and what it means, but I didn’t see many audience members make use of it. When there was an interruption it threw off the flow of the play momentarily, but I think this reflects that the production was evolving right down to the wire. Otherwise it was mostly lights down and quiet audience.

Not A Perfect Production, But One Which Expands Our Expectations

One element I thought was absolutely brilliant was the BSL interpretation. I know very little when it comes to BSL, but Sumayya Si-Tayeb seemed to me to be rather poetic in her interpretation of the text. Moreover, the fact that the lines are also conveyed through surtitles gave her freedom to do more than simply interpret. Her reactions in her ‘neutral’ role as interpreter and as the character Aneela added depth and humour to the production. Really wonderful.

This production should be approached from a perspective of curiousity and open-mindedness for best results. It has not been a straightforward process for those involved (the BSL element was originally envisaged and announced differently). But the final product pushes boundaries and expectations. Why shouldn’t more productions be properly inclusive and accessible? Why should BSL interpretation or relaxed performances be relegated to an afterthought? I appreciate the new perspectives that this evening has brought me.

Iqbal Khan’s play, too, is a welcome addition to London’s theatre landscape. It’s nobody’s job to educate me on different cultures and religious traditions. But 10 Nights manages to represent characters and stories that I haven’t seen anywhere else on stage this year while remaining accessible, and somehow universal in many of its key messages. I’m glad to have had this insight into Yasser’s world, and look forward to seeing more work from all of the creative partners involved in bringing this work to life.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3/5

10 Nights on until 6 November 2021. Find more information and book tickets here.