Shakila’s work in theatre spans the late 70s through to the mid-2000s. She has been at the cutting edge of British Asian theatre collaborating with pioneers such as Hardial Rai, Parv Bancil and Parminder Sekhon.

 

2003 THE BRIDE

MADE IN ENGLAND

Actor/Writer

Live performance with film on a bride from the sub-continent condemned to violence and imprisonment. Performed at the Contact Centre in Manchester.

 

1999 BHAVNI BHAVAI

INTERNATIONAL ARTS

Collaborator/Performer/Film Maker (A WOMAN IN SOUTHALL)

One hour play on untouchables loosely based on the folk story from Gujarat, India. Performed at Watermans Arts Centre.

 

1998 ALL GOD’S ANGELS

MEHTAB THEATRE

Co-writer

A 40-minute monologue of a young woman’s conversation with God. Performed in Bradford and The Bull in Barnet.

 

1997 NOT JUST AN ASIAN BABE

MEHTAB THEATRE

Co-writer

Full-length stage play performed at the Etcetera Theatre, Camden, Watermans Arts Centre & The Bull Centre.

 

1996 BLACK MARGINS

WATERMANS ARTS CENTRE

Director

Black Margins explores the insanity of an old man who has witnessed and participated in the killing that followed the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. Based on sketches of partition by Saadat Hasan Manto, the play draws parallels with the contemporary context, referring to the ‘madness’, riots and destruction of the Babri Mosque at Ayodha in India during 1992.

 

1996 ATISH BAZI

MEHTAB THEATRE

Director

Atish Bazi is a one-act play in Punjabi about a bickering old couple in their dotage. Their bitterness towards each other only fades as they gradually realise that they are on their own.

 

1996 MASSI MASSI

LANCASTER ROAD THEATRE

Director

A one-act comedy about two elderly Asian Gujarati women living in Southall. A three-night run at Watermans Arts Centre, Brentford.

 

1995 NOT JUST AN ASIAN BABE

MEHTAB THEATRE

Co-Writer/Director

A one-act play about the life and times of two Asian women working in the sex industry – a three-week run at the Oval House Theatre.

 

1995 DO NOT USE IF SEAL IS BROKEN

LANCASTER ROAD THEATRE GROUP

Director

A one-act play performed as part of the Asian Theatre Festival at Watermans Art Centre. A look at women’s stories in Southall in the year 2000.

 

1984 IQBAL BEGUM

STREET 7 – SOUTHALL STREET THEATRE COMPANY

Co – Writer/Director

A thirty-minute street theatre production on Domestic Violence and sentencing of women who kill.

 

1978/81 SAHAR ARTS

SAHAR ARTS

Director/Writer

Founder and Artistic Director of SAHAR ARTS. Produced a number of plays, which included: RANI – a thirty-minute play on a prostitute from Pakistan who makes it good in England. Manto’s TOBA TEK SINGH – a thirty-minute play on a mental institution caught up in the partition of the Sub-continent in 1947. SPIRITS – A sixty-minute play on a mixed race relationship between a Sikh girl and a Jamaican Rasta, which ends in tragedy.