‘Life moves pretty fast in Kilburn, If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it…’ Ferris Bueller references aside, that’s exactly what the busy residents of Kilburn are forced to do as a humdrum day is turned on its head. The Kilburn Passion, by one time Kilburn resident Suhayla El-Bushra is a thumping choreographed play by the Tricycle Young Company Ensemble, back by popular demand after a sell out run in April as part of the Takeover Festival.
It has to be said that London has to be one of the most liveliest, if not the liveliest city in the world. A city that appears to never sleep; every road, street, avenue and lane takes on a characteristic all of it’s own. With Kilburn High Road, it’s no different as playwright Suhayla El-Bushra highlights the roads identity and diversity in her latest project, The Kilburn Passion. Noted for her previous works: Pigeons, produced by the Royal Court and Cuckoo, performed at the Unicorn Theatre, I was able to speak to Suhayla ahead of the production, which sees the playwright collaborate with the Tricycle Young Company Ensemble, about the production being brought back by popular demand, why theatre is for everyone and how being a former resident helped to write the show!
You’re currently working with the Tricycle Young Company Ensemble on their production of the Kilburn Passion which will be playing from Tuesday 5th until Saturday 9th August. Could you describe what the production is about?
The production is a kind of modern day Passion Play. It’s about a disparate group of people on Kilburn High Road, all lonely and disconnected from the rest of the world, whose lives are changed when a (vaguely) Christ like figure appears and affects them all in some way. It’s also about alienation in a big city, how we learn to ignore all the people around us and switch off, especially in the digital age. It’s mainly about those two things but each character has their own little story, so there’s lots of other stuff going on too.
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© Manuel Harlan