A captivating new play about love, family and ever-shifting identities
My Name is… tells the story behind a story that fleetingly hit headlines in 2006 and continues to resonate throughout the UK and beyond.
When 12-year-old Gaby disappeared from her home in Scotland, the media announced that her Pakistani father, Farhan, had kidnapped her. The spiraling headlines were only momentarily silenced when it emerged that Gaby may have fled of her own accord, choosing to spend her life in Pakistan. To her Scottish mother Suzy’s great distress, Gaby declared, “my name is Ghazala” and turned her back on ‘Gaby’ and, seemingly, the West…
This moving verbatim play reveals a cross-cultural love story that began in late 80s Glasgow, a world away from the frantic ‘tug of love’ well documented in the world’s press.
Tamasha is an award-winning theatre company, which has driven the crossover of British Asian work into the mainstream. Successes like East is East, The Trouble with Asian Men and Snookered have won acclaim from audiences and critics alike.
[www.tamasha.org.uk](http://www.tamasha.org.uk/)
[The Guardian: The Molly Campbell abduction scandal](http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/apr/27/molly-campbell-abduction-custody-battle-scotland-pakistan-muslim?commentpage=1)
[London Calling: interview with Sudha Bhuchar and Fin Kennedy](http://londoncalling.com/features/a-day-in-the-life-of-tamasha-theatre-company)
[Glasgow Mail on Sunday: The story of an international tug-of-love battle](http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/revealed-story-international-tug-of-love-battle-3408506)
[Behind the scenes on Tamasha’s blog](http://tamashablog.wordpress.com/)
[Women’s Hour 6 May 2014 Listen now from 00:31](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b042z1ft)
Reviews
“this often humorous and entertaining piece is fascinating precisely because it is equally a story in human fallibility and gives no easy answers….My Name Is… makes a powerful case for clear rather than prejudiced thinking.”
★★★★ Time Out
“A deeply moving play that will drag you by the heartstrings.”
★★★★★ Playstosee.com
“Tamasha brings it off beautifully … My Name is… is a love story and a fascinating portrait of migrant attitudes and cultural, familial, religious and gender differences.”
OneWorld.com
“Sudha Bhuchar does a marvellous job in weaving these three voices into a conversation across continents … beautifully timed by director Philip Osment so that both voices are comprehended … engaging and moving … beautifully played.”
British Theatre Guide
“a sympathetic look at an affecting subject that manages to enlighten but not manipulate.”
The Stage
“An important, provocative play, beautifully played.”
LondonGrip.co.uk
What Audiences are saying
“A wonderful nuanced piece … highly sensitive and compassionate … beautifully directed and performed. A real gem. Think it would make great TV drama series too.”
“Brilliant piece of theatre with engaging and moving performances. Gets the mind and heart racing! Thoroughly recommend.”
“A gripping, heart-breaking family thriller that makes us all reflect on what makes us do the things we do. It’s also a great corrective to the crass manipulations of mass media with an appetite for telling simplistic and false stories over and over until people are bludgeoned into falling for them.”
“Stunning. Very powerful, and beautifully performed and directed.”
Opening performances (30 April – 3 May) – all tickets £12
Saturday matinees at 3.00pm – £14 (£12 concessions)
Pay What You Can Tuesdays (tickets in person from 6.30pm – limited and subject to availability)
Recommended for ages 14+
Running time is approximately 80 mins straight through with no interval
Wednesday 14 May – post-show panel discussion: Resisting representation by rote in conversation with the Muslim women taking ownership over how their stories are told
A post-show panel discussion with Shelina Janmohamed (curator and author of [‘Love in a Headscarf’](http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/feb/18/shelina-zahra-janmohamed-arranged-marriage) | @loveinheadscarf), Latifa Akay (journalist and Programme Manager at [Maslaha](http://www.maslaha.org/) | @Maslaha) and Eleanor Martin (Associate Director of [Khayaal Theatre](http://www.khayaal.co.uk/)) and Sofia Niaza ([OOMK publication](http://oomk.net/about) | @oomkzine), chaired by Sara Wajid (writer /journalist and Public Programmes Manager at the National Maritime Museum | @waji35). For more info visit [here](http://www.tamasha.org.uk/mni-events/)
