The inconvenient Muslim: An evening to launch Homegrown

Art dealing with “the Muslim problem” is branded “urgent”, “brave” and “provocative”. But who’s doing the provoking? Who’s getting provoked? And is such work helping move popular narratives beyond the confining parameters of Good Muslims and Bad Muslims?

These are some of the questions Nadia Latif, Omar El-Khairy and their cast sought to explore with the National Youth Theatre in the summer of 2015 with the staging of Homegrown. They wanted to ask if programmes like Prevent are stopping people from getting drawn towards violence, or creating an environment which simply puts a whole community on the backfoot?

Their play was deemed inappropriate for public performance. Rehearsals were shut down amidst ambiguous circumstances. And when a publication of the script was proposed, publishers backed out.

To celebrate the launch of Homegrown as a self-published play text, Index on Censorship hosts an evening to explore these questions with members of the original cast, creative team and an expert panel.

Panelists include:

• Clara Glynn, TV and Radio Writer/Director (credits including A World Elsewhere)
• Madani Younis, Artistic Director of The Bush Theatre
• Malia Bouattia, NUS President
• Nazish Khan, Artistic Director of Quilliam
• Tom Slater, Deputy editor Spiked
• Hassan Mahamdallie, Director of the Muslim Institute/Playwright (chair)

A cash bar will be available.

Tickets: £5 plus fees.