Downing St in turmoil during election week!

WITH perfect timing, The Mullah Of Downing Street is a new political comedy that’s set just before a general election.

Penned by Imran Yusuf and running at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, during election week (from December 10-12), it finds the home of a fictitious prime minister thrown into turmoil, as the voters head to the polls.

“On the eve of a general election, the prime minister and her husband are visited by their daughter, and a man she claims is her fiancé,” explains Imran of the story, which plays out in real time. “This visitor turns out to be a Muslim – even a ‘Mullah’! – and the young couple are insistent they will marry in the morning.”

The unexpected revelation sends what should have been a moment of celebration into disarray.

“The older couple struggle to deal with the crisis, personally and politically, and as each character tries to direct the situation according to what in their eyes is the best course, things appear to spiral out of control.”

Born and raised in London, and currently living in Shepherd’s Bush, Imran is a graduate from the Royal Court Young Writers Programme and the Forum of Young European Playwrights in Wiesbaden. His play Stumped won Pakistan’s first ever national playwriting prize (bestowed by the country’s National Academy Of Performing Arts), going on to enjoy successful runs in Karachi, Delhi, Kolkata and Melbourne.

“I was living in Pakistan and wanted to write about the country, but I found it difficult as a non-native,” Imran recalls. “Pakistani cricket, however, was something I’d followed since childhood, so I felt confident using it as a lens through which to explore hopes, anxieties and lies within the society.

“The play is about match-fixing, national identity, masculinity and hopefully much else besides.”

Similarly, The Mullah Of Downing Street is about more than just politics...

“Yes, it is about politics, in that it’s set in 10 Downing Street and features contemporary political themes,” says the writer of the production, which has been directed by University of Warwick graduate Katharine Farmer. “But ultimately it’s about relationships, family, truth, and, hopefully, it’s about entertaining the socks and hijabs off all present!”

Discussing whether any specific incidents or stories inspired the work, Imran says: “There’s no doubt that being from a British Muslim background has informed some of the themes in it, but I’d say it owes more debt to the work of playwrights such as Alan Ayckbourn, Yasmina Reza and Neil Simon.”