Emerging company Meteatra launches its first production with BORDERS: Digital, Political, Emotional, an evening of six short plays exploring how we live, love and struggle in a world that feels constantly on edge.
From Istanbul kitchens to London boardrooms, from refugee shores to AI dinner tables, these stories are funny, dark, personal and political all at once. They speak about technology, migration, gender, identity and power, but always through people we can recognise.
These are ordinary lives caught in extraordinary times.
The line-up includes Dark Rooms and Pandas; Openly Muslim; Sea Monsters; Mutfak, Göç ve Boncuk; Guess Who’s Computing to Dinner and One of Them. The evening brings together international writers whose voices cut through the noise with sharp humour and emotional truth.
English plays surtitled in Turkish, with one Turkish play surtitled in English.
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Running time
2 hours (including 15 minute interval) -
Age guidance
14+ -
Content warnings
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Secil Honeywill
Director
Secil Honeywill
Director
Secil Honeywill is a theatre director and dramaturg from Istanbul, now based in Berlin. She studied Dramaturgy and Theatre Criticism at Istanbul University and has worked with theatres in Istanbul, London, and Berlin, including directing Kitchen to Measure, Everything Begins by Loving Somebody, and Say Your Name at the Arcola Theatre. She leads creative writing workshops through WriteNow Berlin and develops performance projects that respond to power, inequality, and the urgent questions of our time.
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Aine King
Writer (Sea Monsters)
Aine King
Writer (Sea Monsters)
Áine is an Irish artist and theatre-maker living in Orkney. Her screenplay Running Out was produced by BBC Scotland / National Theatre of Scotland in 2020. Her audio plays include, Bronagh & The Bum Goblin, for Birds Of Paradise Theatre Co / BBC Radio Scotland.
The Scottish International Storytelling Festival commissioned Off The Map in 2021, performed with traditional musicians Karen Tweed and Jenny Wrigley, and Hotel Caledonia in 2022, performed with composer/musician Eric Linklater.
Burning Bright, Áine’s climate-crisis comedy, won the David MacLennan Award 2022 and was produced by A Play, A Pie & A Pint, Glasgow and The Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, directed by Roxana Haines. Her stage works have been produced internationally, including The Southwark Playhouse and Arcola Theatre, London, The Cork Arts Theatre, Ireland, the TEMU Festival, Texas, Mouths of Babes N.C, the English Theatre, Ukraine, Orange Tree Amsterdam.
Áine’s poetry has been published widely. ‘Playing In Time’ was adapted for classical compositions by Hugh Pyper, Peter Walton & Kay Rowan for ‘Words Into Music’ by the George Mackay Brown Society at St Magnus Cathedral 2022.
Áine performed her solo-show, Lost Property Hotel at the Union Theatre, London in January 2025, and at the Town Hall Theatre, Stromness in June 2025.
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Andrew Lawston
Writer (Guess Who's Computing to Dinner)
Andrew Lawston
Writer (Guess Who's Computing to Dinner)
Andrew Lawston lives in West London and writes novels, short stories, and translations of classic French books, including the international bestseller The Story of my Escape, by Giacomo Casanova. This is his second play, following 2018’s Matrexit which was a finalist in the Arts Richmond New Plays Festival at the Orange Tree Theatre. Andrew has also been an occasional actor, and records his own audiobooks. Beyond writing, Andrew enjoys cooking and long river walks.
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Banu Şenel
Writer (Dark Rooms and Pandas)
Banu Şenel
Writer (Dark Rooms and Pandas)
Banu Şenel is an emerging playwright who began writing for the stage after working for more than a decade in international media and marketing business. She studied International Relations and Politics at Koç University and Acting at Plato Film School. Writing her first play marked a clear step into dramatic writing. Her work is driven by curiosity about human behavior and unspoken tensions. She is currently developing her second play and working on the pre-production of her short film Osman.
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Salman Siddiqi
Writer (Openly Muslim)
Salman Siddiqi
Writer (Openly Muslim)
Salman is an emerging playwright whose debut full-length play, Outsiders, is currently in production with Park Theatre. He is also a director and co-founder of MUJU, a community theatre group creating work that brings Muslims and Jews together and opens space for difficult conversations.
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Erdoğan Soytürk
Writer (Mutfak, Göç ve Boncuk)
Erdoğan Soytürk
Writer (Mutfak, Göç ve Boncuk)
Erdoğan Soytürk is a theatre artist based in Istanbul. He graduated from the Acting Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. Alongside his work as an actor, he writes regularly for a cultural magazine and works as a playwright. He also teaches creative drama and theatre, focusing on imagination, expression, and collective storytelling across different age groups.
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Tamara von Werthern
Writer (One of Them)
Tamara von Werthern
Writer (One of Them)
Her stage work has been performed at The Royal Court, the Arcola, Southwark Playhouse, Summerhall, in Spain and Germany and includes The White Bike (The Space) and Puddles (English Theatre Berlin). She translated Hex (NT) for Schauspiel Hannover and is the founder of award-winning podcast Fizzy Sherbet. Her screenplay I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire won Best Screenplay at Lift-Off Season Awards 2019.
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Meteatra
Producer
Meteatra
Producer
We are a theatre for everyone, committed to Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity, and Accessibility.
With a community spirit and professional discipline, we bring passion and care to everything we create.
Our goal is to create exceptional productions that reflect a range of voices and experiences. Meteatra is a place where everyone can feel represented, where every person can find a bit of themselves and their story on stage.
At Meteatra, every story matters. We believe our differences make the world more interesting, resilient, and joyful.
We invite and welcome you all to join us along the way.
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Lucie Regan
Associate Producer
Lucie Regan
Associate Producer
Lucie Regan’s recent projects include A Christmas Carol, Animal Farm and Method in My Madness with Theatre Tours International. Blood Wedding for 2’s Company, Rosy Carrick’s Musclebound, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Southwark Playhouse. Lucie also produces Telling Tinder Tales, a podcast about romance and dating.
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Olcay Boynudelik
Translations for surtitles
Olcay Boynudelik
Translations for surtitles
Graduate of English Language and Literature from Istanbul University. Lives in Istanbul
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Richard Williamson
Lighting Designer
Richard Williamson
Lighting Designer
Previous work includes: The Olivier award winning Rotterdam (West End/Off Broadway/UK National Tour); Dogs of Europe (Belarus Free Theatre at the Barbican and international tour); Richard III, An Arab Tragedy (Swan Theatre Stratford/International tour); Sampled and Danse Élargie (Sadler’s Wells); Great Expectations (UK tour); Little Miss Sunshine (Arcola Theatre and UK Tour); Fiddler on the Roof and The Comedy about a Bank Robbery (Istanbul); Beowulf, Septimus Bean and His Amazing Machine, Jason and the Argonauts (Unicorn); What’s On Stage ‘Best Production’ Winner Thebes Land (also video), New Nigerians, Drones Baby Drones (also video), Shrapnel (also video), Mare Rider, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Country (Arcola Theatre); A Political History of Smack and Crack (Edinburgh Fringe and Soho Theatre); Oedipus at Colonus (Cambridge Arts Theatre); The Body (Barbican); The Dark Side of Love (Roundhouse); In My Name, Boris World King (Trafalgar Studios); Amphibians (Bridewell); Thrill Me (Tristan Bates/Charing Cross Theatre/UK and international tour); Twentieth Century Boy (New Wolsey Ispwich); Re:Home (also video), Brenda (The Yard); Play Size (Young Vic); The Al Hamlet Summit (Tokyo International Festival/International tour); Strangers In Between (Trafalgar Studios and Kings Head); Ballo, Tosco, Denial, Someone To Blame (Kings Head); Summer Begins (Southwark Playhouse). Richard trained at LAMDA, is a Trustee of the Kings Head Theatre, is a board member of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, and develops industry leading applications zoomOSC and zoomISO.
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Neil McKeown
Sound Designer
Neil McKeown
Sound Designer
Neil McKeown is a sound designer and composer working across theatre, film and media.
His theatre credits include: Girl in the Machine (Young Vic), Edward II (Greenwich), Kenny Morgan (Arcola), Richard II (Houses of Parliament), Caucasian Chalk Circle (Greenwich), His Dark Materials (Nuffield, Southampton), Clarion (Arcola), Shrapnel: 34 fragments of a massacre (Arcola), The Water’s Edge (Talimhane, Istanbul), Say Your Name (Arcola), The Door (Park). He was nominated for Off-West End Award for Best Sound Design for Shrapnel.
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Asia Joanna Rob
Assistant Director
Asia Joanna Rob
Assistant Director
Asia Joanna Rob is a UK-based Assistant Director and theatre-maker with over five years’ professional experience across film, theatre and education in international settings. Trained in the UK, India, and Poland, she brings a strong intercultural perspective to rehearsal rooms and specialises in international projects. With background in acting, she draws on her experience on film and TV sets (including credits on Netflix and Amazon MiniTV) to inform her practice.
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Isik Kaya
Assistant Director
Isik Kaya
Assistant Director
Işık Kaya is a theatre director, assistant director, and performer whose collaborative, community-centred work explores complex socio-political themes. She holds a master’s degree in Directing for Stage and Screen and uses her feminist and working-class perspectives to explore identity, liberty, and political safety. Işık’s recent directing work includes the plays The Mute Messiah (2024-2025) premiered at Camden People’s Theatre, Hughesovka (2024) with National Theatre Wales and, Asylum King (2026) premiering at Collective Fringe Festival.
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Elfide Öztürk
Designer
Elfide Öztürk
Designer
Elfide Öztürk graduated from the Department of Interior Design at Anadolu University’s Faculty of Fine Arts and the Global Design program at L’École de Design in France. She began her career in the Art Department in Istanbul. Seeking to broaden her cinematic vision, she moved to London to continue her career as an art director and production designer and occasionally in costume design. She has recently been working in theatre, focusing on costume and set design and prop development.
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İpek Erdem
Production Assistant
İpek Erdem
Production Assistant
İpek is an Istanbul-based actor and creative producer with over twenty years of professional experience in theatre, film, and television, TV series, feature films, and short films. She wrote and directed a music video. She began her acting training at Bursa State Theatre and studied at Istanbul University State Conservatory Theatre Department. Since 2019, she has worked as a performer with Funflows and organised the Cappadocia Jazz Days between 2011 and 2012.
Dark Rooms and Pandas
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İrem Cavusoglu
Bahar
İrem Cavusoglu
Bahar
İrem has been on and off the stage for the past 20 years, in The Threepenny Opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet amongst the many. She has been a part of various productions in Turkish and English.
Her work also includes Say Your Name at the Arcola and most recently The Importance of Being Earnest at the Tower Theatre. She is an ordinary person by daylight and an actor by moonlight. -
Ates Togrul
Ali
Ates Togrul
Ali
Ates Togrul draws on his Actor Training and Coaching studies at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama to explore the stage as a site of encounter where the performer, participants and the performing body breathe together. His work focuses on relational performance, embodiment, and empathy-based acting, drawing on his experience in lighting design and directing.
Openly Muslim
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Charlotte Reidie
Sarah
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John Gregor
Richard
John Gregor
Richard
John Gregor made his professional debut at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, in The Curse of the Baskervilles in 1987. Since then he has performed across the UK in venues ranging from 1,000 seater theatres to outdoor plays in council estates. The last time he performed at the Arcola was in Scar Test, a play about the women held at Yarlswood Detention Centre. On screen he has been in The Bill (ITV), Wycliffe (ITV), and he appears in the YouTube series Sensory Squad. In the first Covid lockdown he made his own short film, Triggers, that was shown in film festivals worldwide and won several awards.
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Inayat Kanji
Waheed
Seamonsters
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John Gregor
Man on Cliff
John Gregor
Man on Cliff
John Gregor made his professional debut at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, in The Curse of the Baskervilles in 1987. Since then he has performed across the UK in venues ranging from 1,000 seater theatres to outdoor plays in council estates. The last time he performed at the Arcola was in Scar Test, a play about the women held at Yarlswood Detention Centre. On screen he has been in The Bill (ITV), Wycliffe (ITV), and he appears in the YouTube series Sensory Squad. In the first Covid lockdown he made his own short film, Triggers, that was shown in film festivals worldwide and won several awards.
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Ates Togrul
Lorry Man
Ates Togrul
Lorry Man
Ates Togrul draws on his Actor Training and Coaching studies at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama to explore the stage as a site of encounter where the performer, participants and the performing body breathe together. His work focuses on relational performance, embodiment, and empathy-based acting, drawing on his experience in lighting design and directing.
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Matthew Hodson
Bear Man
Matthew Hodson
Bear Man
Recent Credits: Alphabet Rainbow (Brighton Festival Fringe / Etcetera / Brockley Jack); The Grass Is Always Grindr (2 seasons), Flatshare (online series); Chemsex Monologues (Kings Head / Above the Stag), Queers and The Clinic (King’s Head).
Other theatre credits include: The Mousetrap (St Martin’s); Watch Out for Mr Stork (Regent’s Park); Chief Swollen-Foot (Tristan Bates); Oedipus, Androcles and the Lion, Agamemnon and Treasure Island (London Scoop). Films include: Common People; Edward II and Breaking the Code.
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Serpil Delice
Naj
Serpil Delice
Naj
Serpil Delice is a London-based theatre actor whose journey began in high school, when her determination earned her a place in the drama club. Without formal training, she developed her craft through years of work with respected directors and actors in London. A longtime member of Alaturka Theatre, she is passionate about socially relevant stories, exploring women’s rights, racism, immigrant life, and LGBTQ+ issues to create impactful, honest, and emotionally resonant performances on stage today
Mutfak, Göç ve Boncuk
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Koray Can Yanasik
Boncuk
Koray Can Yanasik
Boncuk
Koray graduated from the Conservatory of Haliç University in Istanbul in 2015. He went on to work with the Istanbul State Theatre for eight years, performing in a wide range of productions and collaborating with several prominent directors, before expanding his repertoire with various independent theatre companies. Since relocating to the United Kingdom in 2019, he has continued his work as an actor while also writing scripts for both stage and screen. Passionate about ensemble work and the collaborative creative process, Koray remains committed to exploring projects that bridge artistic practices between Turkey and the UK, and to fostering connections with artists from around the world.
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Ates Togrul
Mustafa
Ates Togrul
Mustafa
Ates Togrul draws on his Actor Training and Coaching studies at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama to explore the stage as a site of encounter where the performer, participants and the performing body breathe together. His work focuses on relational performance, embodiment, and empathy-based acting, drawing on his experience in lighting design and directing.
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Abdullah Tercanlı
Şef
Abdullah Tercanlı
Şef
Abdullah’s journey in theatre began in 1996, and his dedication has only grown stronger over the years. Since 2009, Abdullah has been a board member of the non-profit organization, Arcola Theatre in London, contributing to its mission of fostering artistic development. He is also one of the founders of Arcola Alaturka, a group dedicated to Turkish-language theatre, where he has played significant roles in productions such as The Imaginary Invalid, The Crucible, How to Save Asiye, Mahmud and Yezida, and an adaptation of Samarkand.
Beyond performing, Abdullah has invested in his craft through individual and group theatre training, constantly seeking to grow as an artist. Most recently, he co-founded Meteatra, a new theatre company, alongside two close friends with whom he has shared the stage for many years. Their mission is to sustain the presence of both Turkish and English-language theatre in London and to create a platform that supports artistic initiatives and aspiring creators.
Guess Who's Computing to Dinner
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Andrew Lawston
Geoff
Andrew Lawston
Geoff
Andrew Lawston lives in West London and writes novels, short stories, and translations of classic French books, including the international bestseller The Story of my Escape, by Giacomo Casanova. This is his second play, following 2018’s Matrexit which was a finalist in the Arts Richmond New Plays Festival at the Orange Tree Theatre. Andrew has also been an occasional actor, and records his own audiobooks. Beyond writing, Andrew enjoys cooking and long river walks.
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Matthew Hodson
John Murdoch
Matthew Hodson
John Murdoch
Recent Credits: Alphabet Rainbow (Brighton Festival Fringe / Etcetera / Brockley Jack); The Grass Is Always Grindr (2 seasons), Flatshare (online series); Chemsex Monologues (Kings Head / Above the Stag), Queers and The Clinic (King’s Head).
Other theatre credits include: The Mousetrap (St Martin’s); Watch Out for Mr Stork (Regent’s Park); Chief Swollen-Foot (Tristan Bates); Oedipus, Androcles and the Lion, Agamemnon and Treasure Island (London Scoop). Films include: Common People; Edward II and Breaking the Code.
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İrem Cavusoglu
Kirsty
İrem Cavusoglu
Kirsty
İrem has been on and off the stage for the past 20 years, in The Threepenny Opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet amongst the many. She has been a part of various productions in Turkish and English.
Her work also includes Say Your Name at the Arcola and most recently The Importance of Being Earnest at the Tower Theatre. She is an ordinary person by daylight and an actor by moonlight. -
Charlotte Reidie
Ariadne
One of Them
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Ece Ozdemiroglu
Sylvie
Ece Ozdemiroglu
Sylvie
Ece is back on stage after her Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest by Immigrants by Pan Productions. A co-founder of Meteatra, Ece spent seven season’s at Arcola Alaturka co-devising and acting in The Crucible, Ana Hatlar, Yastik Alti, Asiye Nasil Kurtulur?, Kitchen to Measure, Everything Starts with Loving Somebody and Say Your Name. She attended City Lit Drama School for two years, learned improvisation with The Spontaneity Shop.
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Artwork photography by Nick Fancher.