It’s the summer of 2005, and England prepares to win the Ashes and Ismail (Smiley to his friends), a British Indian schoolboy, is about to become the youngest-ever player in his elite public school’s First XI cricket team. He sets his sights on immortality, breaking the school batting record and getting his name into Wisden. But things are about to heat up. From an award-winning playwright maatin, Duck is about adolescence, the pressures of sporting competition and finding your identity in an environment that doesn’t cater for difference.
Would you mind giving us a brief insight into what your show is?
Duck is a one-person show about a fifteen-year-old called Ismail – the star cricketer in his posh London school. It follows him through the summer of 2005 as plenty of stuff goes on in his life and in the world around him, such as England’s memorable Ashes series win and the 7/7 London bombings.
Ismail is a British South Asian, Muslim teenager who’s yet to realise what it means to be brown in the world he occupies. He’s top of the heap with a lot of privilege and a seemingly easy life, before things go wrong for him both on and off the pitch, at which point his identity starts to come into focus, and his love for cricket wanes for the first time.
Tell us about the creative team and the process involved?
Duck starts with the amazing Qasim Mahmood, who is the fourth actor to take on the role. It gives me such a thrill to see how each performer makes it their own, and it’s so fulfilling to be able to offer a young Brown actor a stage all to themselves to play on.
Imy Wyatt Corner has been an incredible collaborator in developing the play. It’s a massive privilege for me to be able to watch her work, both with actors and the extremely talented creatives, to bring Duck to life, and we’ve built a strong foundation of trust that I believe is so important to the show’s success.
Duck is my very first full-length play to make it to the stage, first developed on the Hampstead Theatre’s INSPIRE programme. It’s returned each summer for the past three years and now makes its Fringe debut ahead of a national tour next year.
How does it feel coming to the Fringe?
I feel really lucky that this is my first time at the Fringe in any capacity, so it’s good vibes all the way going in. I’m so proud of my team and want this massive international platform to showcase their immense talents and lead to greater opportunities that are richly deserved. The play was never conceived with Fringe in mind, but I think it’s a great fit for the festival, and it really excites me to get to bring the story to new audiences.
There are over 3,000 shows at the Fringe. So, what sets your show apart?
For cricket fans, there are plenty of treats, from the faux-Australian commentators that live inside Ismail’s head to 2005 Ashes nostalgia, and a memorable homage to Sachin Tendulkar. If that means nothing to you, there’s still loads to enjoy and it’s a chance to see something different, for sure. It’s 1 hour with a young, Brown, British Muslim character in a way you’ve not seen before, so hopefully that’s appealing to a wide audience. It’s a very dynamic performance, full of jokes but really moving too.
Is there anything specific you’re hoping the audience will take away?
One of the central questions of the play is how far can class and wealth privilege take this young boy if their skin is still brown? I don’t have a fixed answer to provide to that idea, but I think it’s a useful provocation to take out into the world how we consider how society operates, and how we decide to treat and care about one another.
Your ideal audience is in attendance, who’s watching? Or more importantly – who isn’t there…
Jeremy O. Harris talks about the Blackout performances of Slave Play, and how it was the first time where the audience laughed in all the places that he laughed when writing, and what a unique experience that was. We’ve curated similar performances for Duck in past runs, but (and this is something Jeremy O. Harris says as well) there is beauty in variety in audiences in having those mixed reactions, and seeing how different people respond to different aspects of the show. The discomfort of some is as important as the comfort of others, and all is enjoyable as the writer to sit back and absorb.
It’s an intense month, so where you’re able, how do you plan to relax, and are there any other shows you intend to see or want to recommend?
I’m looking forward to seeing the fellow Charlie Hartill Fund winners, of course! I will definitely seek out other creatives of colour, as it’s well-documented that Fringe can be a place that doesn’t cater to us, so I’ll do my part to foster an environment where we can support one another.
In your ideal world, how can we improve the Fringe, of performance, and the industry?
For me, Fringe and industry problems are reflective of societal problems – there are many of course, but probably the only one that matters is the redistribution of wealth. With an underfunded industry on its knees, what ends up being sacrificed? Opportunities for “risk”, access to the working class, exclusion of minorities, and poor labour practices. If the money that’s concentrated in the hands of a few was successfully spread throughout, many of the areas of need and improvement could start to be addressed.
Interested in being featured on our Have a Gander page? With many previews and Q&As lined up, we’re always happy to chat about including your show in future articles. Please do get in touch through the contact page to feature in an upcoming ‘Have A Gander’