Krupa Pattan, Adam Samuel-Bal to Lead Emteaz Hussain's BLOOD Tour

Tamasha Artistic Directors Fin Kennedy and Sudha Bhuchar today announce the cast for Emteaz Hussain's Blood - the centrepiece production of their 25th anniversary year.

Esther Hussain will direct Krupa Pattani and Adam Samuel-Bal in the co-production with the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. It will open in Coventry in March (press night 31 March) before visiting theatres around the UK including Soho Theatre, Birmingham REP and Tron Theatre in Glasgow. Blood reunites Tamasha with playwright Emteaz Hussain following their 2008 production of Sweet Cider at the Arcola Theatre.

Blood is part of a programme of ongoing work which furthers Tamasha's ambition to give a voice to theatre created by and about the UK's culturally diverse communities. Tamasha's 2014 touring production, My Name is... was adapted for Radio and aired on BBC Radio last week and in development this year is Taxi Tales, an experimental site-specific community project in which Co-Artistic Director Fin Kennedy will support playwright Ishy Din to work with real-life minicab drivers in Stockton-on-Tees to develop monologues to deliver to customers in the backs of their cabs.

Caneze meets Sully in the college canteen. The heat rises over triple chilli sauce in Nando's. She makes her move in the sweet smoke of a shisha bar. A touchpaper is lit... but neither of them bargained on the lengths to which her brother would go to keep them apart.

Set among a Midlands Pakistani community, Blood is sparky, funny and heart-wrenchingly honest. A timely and contemporary story, this play cuts through political agendas and goes straight to the heart. It lets us into a world governed by links to family and clan, as much as fiercely individual wants and desires.

"After the 2011 riots, I felt frustrated over the myopic portrayal of working class young people. It was important to me to write a play which captured the complexity of their lives and the brave, sassy way they negotiate their identity in a wider context."

Emteaz Hussain is a performance poet, playwright and workshop leader. Her acclaimed first play, Sweet Cider, was produced by Tamasha in 2008 following her outstanding work through the Tamasha Developing Artists (TDA) programme's New Writing Course. Blood was originally performed in 2010 at the Gate Theatre as part of Tamasha's new writing showcase Propeller. She is currently commissioned by Pilot Theatre, Clean Break and is on assignment to the Royal Court. As a spoken word artist she has performed nationally and internationally and has toured with Transglobal Underground, Fundamental, Hustlers HC and as a backing poet with the Benjamin Zephaniah band. She works extensively as a workshop practitioner in both statutory and community settings, specialising in pupil referral units.

Krupa Pattani plays Caneze. Her theatre credits include Peter Pan (Polka Theatre), Robin Hood (Octagon Theatre Bolton), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, Cyrano de Bergerac, Twelfth Night and Masters Are You Mad (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre), Kanjoos The Miser, Dick Whittington Goes Bollywood, Bollywood Cinderella (Tara Arts). Her television work includes MI High; and for film, Honeycomb Lodge.

Adam Samuel-Bal plays Sully. His theatre credits include Damn Yankees (Brockley Jack), Aladdin (Theatre Royal Leamington Spa), Half 'n' Half: A New Musical (National Theatre of Wales) and Children of Eden (Aria-Entertainment).

Esther Richardson is a freelance theatre and film director. She has worked as an Associate for Soho Theatre, Derby LIVE, and Cast in Doncaster. She founded the new writing company Theatre Writing Partnership which ran for 10 years in Nottingham. Her varied work as a director includes productions for Nottingham Playhouse, Derby LIVE, Royal and Derngate Northampton, Soho Theatre and Bolton Octagon. Her film work includes two short films, one of which, The Cake, was chosen as the UK film for the Women in Film in Television International Showcase and was screened all over the world in 2012. She was also one of eight emerging film directors to be selected for Creative England's prestigious iFeatures2 feature film development scheme in 2012.

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