Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham today announces the cast for her production of the world première of John Hollingworth's Multitudes - Clare Calbraith (Natalie), Navin Chowdhry (Kash), Salma Hoque (Khadira), Asif Khan (Julian/Shabir/Shafiq), Jacqueline King (Lyn), and Maya Sondhi(Rukhsana/Sam/Harpreet).
"While we're watching Saturday Kitchen Live and getting our bits from M&S and indulging down the gastropub there's an army of people - a growing army of people - shunning our lifestyle."
Bradford. On the eve of a Conservative Party Conference the country is in turmoil and one of its most multicultural cities awaits a visit from the Prime Minister.
Kash, a liberal British Muslim, prepares his address to politicians about the state of the nation. His girlfriend Natalie, a recent convert to Islam, cooks for anti-war protesters gathered at the Town Hall. Lyn, her mother, moans to anyone who'll listen about the decline of her cherished England. It's all too much for Kash's daughter Khadira, who begins to plan a radical intervention.
As the nation questions immigration policies and military support in the Middle East, one family face their own internal conflict of faith, belonging, and who gets to call themselves British.
"This whole multicultural happy-clappy hippie-dippie love-in is
a fantasy."
John Hollingworth was born in Keighley and grew up in Bradford. He has worked extensively as an actor in London theatre, including Women, Power and Politics at the Tricycle. Notable television includes second series of both The Hour and Da Vinci's Demons and BBC One's upcoming Poldark. His short plays include Animal Wrongs (Miniaturists at the Arcola), Broken Window Theory (One Night Stand at Soho Theatre) and Blue Yonder (Midnight Matinee, Tristan Bates Theatre). This is his first full length play.
Clare Calbraith plays Natalie. For theatre, her work includes Last Days of Troy (Royal Exchange & Shakespeare's Globe), Neighbors (HighTide),Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Royal Exchange), Humble Boy (New Victoria Theatre) and A Doll's House (Northcott Exeter). Her television work includes Home Fires, Silent Witness, Vera (series regular), Downton Abbey (series regular), The Shadow Line, Coronation Street (series regular), 55 Degrees North and Heartbeat (series regular); and for film, Mindscape and Behind the Wall.
Navin Chowdhry plays Kash. His theatre work includes The Night Before Christmas (Soho Theatre), Shades, Behind the Image (
Royal Court Theatre),Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare's Globe), Night Sky (The Old Vic) and The Man Who Loved Infinity (Complicite). For television, his credits include Babylon, A Touch of Cloth, The Job Lot, Body Farm, Reunited, Five Days, NY-Lon, Doctor Who and Teachers; and for film, Happy New Year, Skellig, Red Mercury, The Seventh Coin and King of the Wind.
Salma Hoque plays Khadira. Her theatre credits include Drawing The Line (Hampstead Theatre) and Sick Rooms (NYT). For television, her work includes FAM and Holby City.
Asif Khan plays Julian/Shabir/Shafiq. His theatre work includes The Nutcracker, The Snow Queen (Unicorn Theatre), Queen of the Nile (Hull Truck),Snookered (
Bush Theatre) and Twelfth Night (National Theatre). For television, his credits include The Dumping Ground, Dark Matters, Spooks, The Liquid Bomb Plot and Postal; and for film, Dumpee.
Jacqueline King plays Lyn. Her theatre credits include Life for Beginners (Theatre 503), Beyond the Horizon / Spring Storm (National Theatre / Royal and Derngate, Northampton), Larkin with Women, Major Barbara, Press Cuttings, The Madras House (Orange Tree Theatre), Damsel in Distress(Duchess Theatre) and Comic Potential (Lyric Theatre). For television, her work includes Silk, Give Out Girls, George Gently, Doctor Who, Missing, House of Saddam and 55 Degrees North; and for film, Writers' Retreat and The Prince of Hearts.
Maya Sondhi plays Rukhsana/Sam/Harpreet. Her theatre credits include There (Royal Court), Yerma (Arcola Theatre), Bollywood Cinderella (Tara Arts),A Bold Stroke For A Husband (Bridewell) and The Massacre (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds). For television, her work includes Citizen Khan, Silent Witness, Judge John Deed, Collision, Doctors, Family Affairs, Brum and Fair City.
Indhu Rubasingham, Artistic Director of the
Tricycle Theatre, directs. For the company, her work includes The House That Will Not Stand, Handbagged(also Vaudeville Theatre - Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre), Red Velvet (also New York), Paper Dolls, Women, Power And Politics, Stones In His Pockets, Detaining Justice, The Great Game: Afghanistan, Fabulation, and Starstruck. Her other theatre work includesBelong, Disconnect, Free Outgoing, Lift Off, Clubland, The Crutch, Sugar Mummies (Royal Court), Ruined (Almeida Theatre), Yellowman, Anna In The Tropics (Hampstead Theatre), The Waiting Room (National Theatre), The Ramayana (National Theatre/ Birmingham Rep), and Secret Rapture, The Misanthrope, Romeo and Juliet (
Chichester Festival Theatre). In 2012 Rubasingham was awarded the Arts & Culture Award at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards for 'astounding achievements in theatre'. She also received the Carlton Multi-Cultural Achievement Award for Performing Arts and in 2010 she jointly received the Liberty Human Rights Arts Award for The Great Game: Afghanistan. She was previously Associate Director of the
Gate Theatre, Birmingham Rep and the Young Vic.
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