I have written 5 opera libretti, and a dramatic cantata. Currently (autumn 2014) working on 'The Carp Flop', with composer Lauren Redhead about 91 year old Holocaust survivor Iby Knill and her relationship with food throughout her many adventures!
March 2009: A Burlington Tale: community radio play commissioned by Integreat Yorkshire (Yorkshire Forward) and Bridlington Old Town Association.
Writer of The Ghost Lesson, a multi-lingual play commissioned by Chol Theatre in collaboration with Bradford International Festival.
Premiere: Bradford Alhambra Studio, June 03, Cross regional autumn tour, including Newcastle, London and mnachester, Oct - Nov 03.
A professional production, directed by Dominic Rai.
Writer of Dancing with Razor Blades, a play commissioned by Burnley Youth Theatre, performed by young men, aged 15 to 23, from different cultural backgrounds. Premiere: BYT, June 03, prior to North West Tour, including Contact Theatre, Manchester.
A professionally produced community production, directed by Sazzadur Rahman.
Some other plays:
The Crazy Masala Club 2002
Professionally produced outdoor drama in English, Hindi and Bangla with Indian, Bangladeshi and British participants for the Commonwealth Games, in association with Cultureshock Festival.
Chol Theatre/Peshkar Productions
The Beautiful Violin 2001
Full length musical play based on traditional Bengali love story.
Commissioned by Peshkar Productions and the Oldham Coliseum.
Professional production, touring to theatres in Yorkshire and the North West.
Nominated for Manchester Evening News Best New Play Award, 2002.
Three Beaches, Rusty Angels and a Transit Van 2001
Full length, musical play about the journey of Robbi, an illegal immigrant, from Hull to Blackpool.
Community production, professionally produced at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, by Chol Theatre.
Tricked Me Yaar! 2000
Hour long play in English, Punjabi and Bangla about the lives of British Asians in Oldham.
Commissioned by ayna theatre, Oldham.
Professionally produced, large cast, youth theatre production.
Shopner Karigor (Builder of Dreams) 1999
Large scale outdoor, masked drama for co-production - Chol/Theatre Centre for Social Development - in Dhaka, Bangladesh, about life and hope in the city slums.
Professionally produced community production.
Rajpathe Badsha Lear (King Lear on the Street) 1998
Hour long multi-lingual play (English, Urdu, Bangla) about the relationship between country and city in Bangladesh and the UK. Commissioned by Bradford Theatres.
Professional production by Twisting Yarn Theatre Company/Chol in Bradford Secondary Schools and theatre venues in Bradford, Huddersfield, Oldham and London.
Musical collaborators on plays: Hugh Nankivell, Chris Davies, Ahad Ullah, Arun Ghosh, Jaydev Mistry, Pete Coe, Lauren Redhead, Ayanna Witter-Johnson
Shortlisted for 2008 Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition.
Featured poet in SAMA UK anthology, 2009
Poet in Residence at the Ilkley Literature Fetsival, 2005
Published collection of poetry: An Indian Rug Surprised by Snow (Wrecking Ball Press, Hull, 2005)
Some previous published poetry -
2003:
Homeland in Raw Edge, April 03.
The Dry Garden in Hortus Conclusus, Poetry on the Lake 2002 anthology, June 03.
2002:
Beyond Heptonstall in Acumen, September 02
The Beautiful Violin in Oldham Coliseum/Peshkar productions programme for The Beautiful Violin, January 2002.
2001:
Two paintings: Oil on Oak, Tempera on Canvas;
Where are we?; A strange story about Bangladesh, in Moving Worlds, A Journal of Transcultural Writing, Vol 1, Number 1, Summer 2001, an internationally refereed journal based at the University of Leeds, edited by Shirley Chew.
A feeling for finches in Landscape and Art, the journal of the Landscape and Art Network,
number 22, Spring 2001.
Burglary in The Guardian, May 3rd 2001 (runner up in text poem competition).
Some published papers:
Dartington Theatre Papers - Horse and Bamboo: a theatre of narrative painting (1988)
Storybox/Bradford Education Authority - The Story of Ushar: strategies for multi-lingual storytelling (1990)