Full Cast Announced For The World Première Of APPROACHING EMPTY

Kiln Theatre, Tamasha and Live Theatre today announce the full cast for the world première of Ishy Din's Approaching Empty in a first-time creative collaboration for the three companies. Pooja Ghai directs Kammy Darweish (Mansha), Rina Fatania (Sameena), Karan Gill (Shazad), Nicholas Khan (Raf), Nicholas Prasad (Sully) and Maanuv Thiara (Tany). The production opens at Kiln Theatre on 14 January, with previews from 9 January, and runs until 2 February. Following performances at Kiln Theatre, the production tours to Live Theatre, Newcastle; Tron Theatre, Glasgow; Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh; Derby Theatre; Belgrade Theatre, Coventry; Curve, Leicester; Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch, and Coliseum Theatre, Oldham.

'Forget friendship... this is business.'

In a scruffy minicab office, Mansha decides it's time to create his own destiny and offers to buy a business from his lifelong friend Raf. As the realities of the state of the business slowly unravel, these two best friends must confront the difficulties of going into business with those closest to them.

Set in North East England, in the aftermath of Margaret Thatcher's death, this compelling drama by award-winning playwright Ishy Din, lays bare the everyday struggles of a post-industrial generation of South Asian British men.

Ishy Din's theatre work includes Snookered (Tamasha, Oldham Coliseum and Bush Theatre) and Beats North (Edinburgh Fringe). He was the 2012 Pearson Writer in Residence at the Manchester Royal Exchange and in 2013 Snookered won Best New Play at the Manchester Theatre Awards. For television, his work includes Ackley Bridge, Taxi Tales and Doughnuts; for film, Fraud, Perfume and Our Lad; and for radio John Barnes Saved My Life.

Kammy Darweish plays Mansha. His theatre credits include All My Sons (Nottingham Playhouse), East is East (Nottingham Playhouse/Northern Stage/UK tour), Wild Honey (Hampstead Theatre), Antony and Cleopatra, Holy Warriors (Shakespeare's Globe), City Madam, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Marat Sade (RSC), Blood and Gifts, Conduct Unbecoming, Romeo and Juliet, Hiawatha, Peer Gynt (National Theatre), Mirror for Princes, The Bottle, Pericles, Midnight's Children (Cardboard Citizens/RSC), Dance Like a Man (Tara Arts), The Merchant of Venice (Phoenix Theatre), The Snow Queen, Don't Drink the Water, Julius Caesar, Woyzeck (Bristol Old Vic). His television credits include Ackley Bridge, Saddam's Tribe: Bound by Blood, White Teeth; and for film Skyfall, 31 North 62 East, The Omen and Colour Me Kubrick.

Karan Gill plays Shazad. His theatre credits include The Lovely Bones, Child of the Divide (UK tour), The Captive Queen and That the Eye of Heaven Visits (Shakespeare's Globe); and for film, Boogieman.

Nicholas Khan plays Raf. His theatre credits include Wonderland (Nottingham Playhouse), Our Town, Animal Crackers (Royal Exchange Theatre), A Tale of Two Cities (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), The Kite Runner (Wyndham's Theatre/UK tour), Love N Stuff (Theatre Royal Stratford East), The Beaux' Stratagem, Dara (National Theatre), Nur Du (Pina Bausch/Barbican), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Liverpool Playhouse), Mincemeat (Cardboard Citizens), Meet the Mukherjees (Octagon Theatre Bolton), Ramayana (Lyric Hammersmith), Gaddafi: A Living Myth (Coliseum, London), A Passage to India (UK tour), The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors, Henry V (RSC), Arabian Nights (Young Vic) and Maa! (Royal Court Theatre). His television credits include Outnumbered and Genie in the House.

Rina Fatania plays Sameena. Her previous credits for Tamasha include The House of Bilquis Bibi, Wuthering Heights, A Fine Balance, Child of the Divide and Strictly Dandia. Other theatre credits include The Village, Sinbad the Sailor, Anita and Me, Love N Stuff, Guantanamo Boy (Theatre Royal Stratford East), The Tin Drum, Dead Dog in a Suitcase (HOME Manchester), Oliver Twist (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Roller Diner (Soho Theatre), Paradise of the Assassins (Tara Arts), Mummyji Presents (Birmingham Rep), The Empress (RSC), Wah! Wah! Girls (Sadler's Wells), Britain's Got Bhangra, It Ain't All Bollywood, Meri Christmas, The Deranged Marriage (UK tour) and Bombay Dreams (Apollo Victoria). Her television credits include Wanderlust; and for film, Connection.

Nicholas Prasad plays Sully. His theatre credits include Henry V (New Generation Festival), Much Ado About Nothing (Rose Theatre Kingston), Miss Meena and the Masala Queens (Watford Palace Theatre), Treasure Island, The BFG, The Wind in the Willows (Birmingham Rep), Ross (Chichester Festival Theatre), A Mad World, My Masters (RSC/Barbican), Titus Andronicus, Maydays (RSC),The Tempest (Tobacco Factory), Baghdad Wedding (Soho Theatre), Colours (Bloomsbury Theatre) and Mustard (Bristol Old Vic). His television credits include Krypton, Drifters and The Five; and for film, Hearts & Minds.

Maanuv Thiara plays Tany. His theatre credits include King Lear (Bristol Old Vic), Hamlet (Almeida Theatre), and A Passage to India (Park Theatre); and for television, Hamlet and The Boy with the Topknot.

Pooja Ghai directs. She was the Associate Director at Theatre Royal Stratford East where she directed Rapunzel, Counting Stars, The House of In Between, Home Theatre and Angelic Tales. Other theatre credits as director include Lions and Tigers (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), The Empress (The Embassy Theatre), Vestige for Wayne Parsons Dance (Wilton's Music Hall/ Rich Mix/ 2018 tour), Tamasha 25, Shakti & Seva, Mother India (Rich Mix), 13 (Corbett Theatre), As You Like It (Ellen Terry Theatre), The Accordian Shop (Curve), The Tune is Always Better on the Outside, Oysters, Mirad a boy from Bosnia (The Bedford) and The Difference (Soho Theatre). Theatre credits as an associate /assistant director include The Infidel The Musical (Theatre Royal Stratford East) and The Memory of Water (UK tour).

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