Life's dramas turned into theatre

Farida's work is heavily influenced by her cultural roots

Dramatist, Farida Nasir Ibrahim said she wants to bring live theatre to female audiences in the Bailiwick.

She said her experience in an abusive relationship made her want to reach out to others.

She said: "I would like to work with the women in the island using drama therapy."

Her play, Khabaloush (Expect the Unexpected in Turkish) was premiered in Manchester in April in front of a female only audience.

She said this was to attract Muslim women who would usually be precluded from attending any event at which men are present.

Born in Pakistan, she moved to the UK as a young child and has dedicated herself to bringing theatre to women who would not normally be able to access it.

My first marriage was brutal and traumatic, it took me 18 years to leave and when I did, I promised myself I would use my experiences to help others. Farida Nasir Ibrahim

An all female cast and crew were used for the Khabaloush premier and Farida remembered the buzz she got that day: "I managed to get around 50 women in their 'burkhas' to come and watch this play and afterwards we did drama workshops and they all pleaded for us to come back again.

"One one of them even said that if she never went to the theatre again, she would die happy because she had been just once and would otherwise never have set foot in the place."

Farida explained that the play is about "four women who have come to crossroads in their lives, they all want to move forward, but they're stuck, so they all go to see a spiritual healer and during the course of the play you see their true colours and emotions coming through".

Farida writes, performs and directs her own work

The issues discussed are universal concerns that both men and women can appreciate said Farida who hoped to bring the play to Guernsey.

"It deals with identity, success, the ageing process and keeping up appearances because of the pressures society puts on all of us to conform. By the end there is some sort of harmony - but not necessarily a happy ending," she said.

Farida wants to do more work with women who have experienced domestic violence and other forms of abuse: "I have had a great deal of life experiences and my first marriage was brutal and traumatic, it took me 18 years to leave and when I did, I promised myself I would use my experiences to help others."

Farida uses forum theatre to take issues, put them out there and allow people to work through their problems by a process of acting rather than simply talking about difficult events.

Farida played Roxy in the Manchester production of Khabaloush

"It's interactive, and works by expressing emotions through a third party which can be a really effective form of therapy," she explained.

While still working on Khabaloush Farida started work on her next piece which she hoped to devise and perform in the Bailiwick. It is called Heaven's On Hold and it is about a couple in the process of breaking up because one of them is having an affair.

"The way I work is that I devise the play, I work on the floor, with improvisation, then I film it and from that I create my writing from what's happened on the floor," she said.

And the hunt is on for some home grown talent to get involved with Khabaloush and her work in progress: "I'm looking to find the cast and crew in Guernsey as I think there is probably a great deal of talent right here."