Hassan Abdulrazzak

True stories from the sharp edge of transatlantic deportation. In America, foreign nationals can be deported after serving prison sentences; some of them are British. Hassan Abdulrazzak interviewed ex-prisoners and experts in immigration and criminal law to get behind the political rhetoric, and to explore the extraordinary realities of people caught up in the quagmire of immigration detention and deportation. These are their verbatim stories of double punishment and separation, stuck in the transatlantic tango between Trump and May.

The repercussions of centuries of interference by Imperial powers in the affairs of the Middle East are with us every day; yet we seem to learn nothing from history. Divided World brings together the work of passionate and award-winning playwrights with their roots in the Middle East, who, like Hamlet's 'players' are the ''abstract and brief chronicles of the time'', clinically exposing the realities of lives lived under illegal occupation or in the shadow and aftermath of conflict, exploitation and destruction. This second collection of plays published by Arts Canteen brims with hope, frustration, humour, pathos or disenchantment and provides performance opportunities for actors of any age and gender. The editor, Kenneth Pickering, is Honorary Professor of Drama at the University of Kent.

Based on Ahmed Tobasi's personal coming of age story, And Here I Am is an epic voyage of identity and self-discovery. Combining fact and fantasy, tragedy and comedy, spanning both the first Palestinian intifada and the second, we follow the protagonist through his transformation from resistance fighter to artist, his journey as a refugee from the West Bank to Norway and then back again. In a series of tragicomic episodes vividly brought to life with music, dance and animation, we journey through this personal and political tale of occupation and resistance, fear and heroism, a life of self-pursuit and loyalty that transports us to the heart of the hardships, struggles and contradictions of a young man growing up under occupation and his pursuit for the true meaning of freedom.

A Palestinian actor learns there’s more to English girls than pure sex appeal. A Pakistani-born terror suspect figures out what’s wrong with his first novel. A British youth suspects all is not what it seems with his object of desire. A New Yorker asks his girlfriend for a sexual favour at the worst possible time. Love, Bombs & Apples is the comic tale of four men, each from different parts of the globe, all experiencing a moment of revelation.

The genesis of this collection of short plays was an event entitled Gather for Gaza organised by Arts Canteen in Walthamstow, London, in 2014. Among the items presented was a profoundly moving and disturbing performance of Hassan Abdulrazzak's play The Tune is Always Better on the Outside and it became apparent in discussion with directors, actors, and playwrights that there is a growing body of work that explores aspects of the legacy of the Sykes-Picot agreement concluded during the First World War, and which continues to shape the destiny of the Middle East. It is hoped that this initial collection will result in performances, debate, and the writing of more plays around a theme that seems to grow evermore relevant.

It’s January 28th 2011 and Egypt stands on the brink. For Layla and Hisham, a young couple living in downtown Cairo, a dictatorial and corrupt government is only one of their problems. As the world shifts, cataclysmically, around them, some long hidden secrets threaten to emerge and tear them apart. Based on extensive interviews in Cairo with revolutionaries and soldiers, journalists and cab drivers, this new drama depicts both a revolution in progress and the society from which it sprang.

'In Iraq, a wedding is not a wedding unless shots get fired. It's like in England where a wedding is not a wedding unless someone pukes or tries to fuck one of the brides' maids. That's just the way it goes.'Against a backdrop of London and war-torn Baghdad, three friends grapple with their sexual, cultural and political identity. This is a surprising first play from Iraqi writer Hassan Abdulrazzak.