Cast and creatives announced for world premiere of Waleed Akhtar’s The P Word at Bush Theatre

Cast and creatives have been announced for the world premiere of Waleed Akhtar’s The P Word at Bush Theatre.

The piece opens at the Bush Theatre on 9 September and runs to 22 October.

Directed by Anthony Simpson-Pike (Lava, Bush Theatre), on the cast are Waleed Akhtar and Esh Alladi.

‘I’m not in your Britain. I’m in another Britain.’

Zafar flees homophobic persecution in Pakistan to seek asylum in the UK. Londoner Bilal (or Billy as he prefers to be known) is ground down by years of Grindr and the complexity of being a brown gay man. Their worlds are about to change forever.

Moving through casual hook-ups to the UK’s hostile environment, Waleed Akhtar’s sharp-witted and devastating new play charts the parallel lives of two gay Pakistani men.

A new Bush Theatre commission, the creative team includes set and costume designer Max Johns, lighting designer Elliot Griggs, sound designer XANA, composer Niraj Chag, movement director Rachael Nanyonjo, assistant director Adam Karim, dramaturg Deirdre O’Halloran, voice and dialect coach Gurkiran Kaur, costume supervisor Maariyah Sharjil and casting director Jatinder Chera.

Deirdre O’Halloran, Literary Manager of the Bush Theatre said: “The P Word is the story of a chance encounter bringing two worlds together, and in a time where it feels like we’re all increasingly divided, there is something quietly revolutionary about that.

“The play started out as a seed commission at the Bush, with Waleed writing a full first draft in just a week and the team was so excited and inspired by its activism, truthfulness, and hopefulness. It’s a queer story that could not be more relevant to Britain today.”

For more information and tickets, visit bushtheatre.co.uk