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ASIF
KHAN
Actor | Playwright | AIK productions
Love, Bombs & Apples
By Hassan Abdulrazzak
Palestine. Pakistan. Bradford. New York.
A comic tale.
Four men experience a moment of revelation.
Company: AIK Productions & Turtle Key Arts
Director: Rosamunde Hutt
Designer: Mila Sanders
Sound: James Hesford
Lighting: Charlie Lucas
Voice Coach: Richard Ryder
Cast: Asif Khan
Supported by The Richard Carne Trust & The Iraqi Cultural Centre
2019
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March 2019 (20th & 21st) at THE KENNEDY CENTER, WASHINGTON DC (http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/event/XTWSA).
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2018
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US DEBUT at the POTRERO STAGE in SAN FRANCISCO (GoldenThread.org) & UK:
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Hat Factory Arts Centre, Luton
WED 28 MARCH 7.30PM
01582 878 100
lutonculture.com
The Lowry, Salford Quays
FRI 30 MARCH 8PM
0161 208 6010
thelowry.com/drama
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Potrero Stage (1695 18th Street, San Francisco, USA)
APRIL 19 to MAY 6
www.goldenthread.org/2018-season/
Chats Palace, London
FRI 11 & SAT 12 MAY 8PM
020 8533 0227
chatspalace.com
Old Fire Station, Oxford
TUE 15 MAY 7.30PM
01865 263 990
oldfirestation.org.uk
artsdepot, London
THU 17 MAY 7.30PM
020 8369 5454
artsdepot.co.uk
Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
MON 21 & TUE 22 MAY 7.45PM
024 7652 4524
warwickartscentre.co.uk
Lighthouse Poole
FRI 25 MAY 8PM
01202 280000
lighthousepoole.co.uk
Oldham Library, Live@thelibrary
TUE 29 MAY 7PM
0161 770 8000
oldham.gov.uk/liveatthelibrary
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2017
The EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL, August 2nd-27th, as part of ARAB ARTS FOCUS.
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2016
TOUR DATES:
10th & 11th May
Northern Stage,
Newcastle
13th & 14th May
Mercury Theatre,
Colchester
17th & 18th May
Printers Playhouse,
Eastbourne
19th & 20th May
Attenborough Arts Centre,
Leicester
25th & 26th May
Cast,
Doncaster
31st May - 25th June,
Arcola Theatre,
London
29th & 30th June
York Theatre Royal
1st & 2nd July
Theatre in the Mill,
Bradford
11th - 13th July
The Coliseum
Oldham
16th July
The Kinara Festival
Nelson
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21st & 22nd July
Arabica Festival,
Liverpool
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2015
Premiere, July
Arcola Theatre
Shubbak Festival
A Palestinian actor learns there’s more to English girls than pure sex appeal.
A Pakistani-born terror suspect figures out what’s wrong with his first novel.
A British youth suspects all is not what it seems with his object of desire.
A New Yorker asks his girlfriend for a sexual favour at the worst possible time.
Love, Bombs & Apples is the comic tale of four men, each from different parts of the globe, all experiencing a moment of revelation.
WINNER of OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION at Theatre Bay Area Awards 2018 (US Debut).
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Nominated as a finalist for BEST STAGE PRODUCTION at the ASIAN MEDIA AWARDS 2016.
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Nominated as a finalist for BEST STAGE PRODUCTION at EASTERN EYE ARTS, CULTURE & THEATRE AWARDS 2017.
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Long-listed for an Amnesty Freedom Of Expression Award 2017.
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★★★★ A Younger Theatre
★★★★ The Stage​
★★★★ LondonTheatre1​
★★★★ Islington Gazette​
★★★★ Carole Woddis
★★★★ The Scotsman
★★★★ Commonspace
★★★★ Fest Mag
★★★★ Ed Festival Mag
★★★★ Fringe Guru
★★★★ Reviews Hub
★★★★ Manchester Theatre Awards
★★★★ For All Events San Francisco
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First performed at the Arcola Theatre as part of the Shubbak Festival 2015
Photos by Mila Sanders
"Bubbling humour….Quartet of monologues with a profound ability to find humour in the most over-trodden tragedies"
—The Stage
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"Searingly satirical…brilliantly observed"
—LondonTheatre1
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"Powerful, political theatre ... Laugh-out-loud moments ... Chris Morris' hilarious film, Four Lions, sprung to mind"
—Islington Gazette
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"Invigorating…inspiring…exhilarating…Rosamunde Hutt’s economic, elegant single- room production transports us effortlessly to each milieu, as does Khan’s extraordinary gift for transformation"
—Carole Woddis
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"A script that deals in the nitty-gritties of the ordinary with searingly satirical candour and idiosyncratic quirks and foibles of each brilliantly observed character"
—London Theatre1
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"Abdulrazzak's captivating tales hook an audience from start to finish"
—A Younger Theatre
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"Abdulrazzak has a talent for turning something comic into a political minefield. . . . The audience can consider government policies, and world politics, because they’ve been so well-absorbed by the absurdly personal anecdotes. And thanks to Khan’s unflagging performance, the lessons at hand never seem didactic or dull. He makes them feel real, a part of certain oppressed people’s everyday lives." —SF Weekly, San Francisco
"Four breathtaking monologues in a dramatic tour-de-force . . . Watching Asif Khan's riveting portrayals of four deeply conflicted men is like sitting beside a world-class musician who has mastered the pacing and technique required by a demanding and complex piece of music. Abdulrazzak's characters come to life with a breathtaking urgency in Khan's hands." —My Cultural Landscape, San Francisco
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"Beautifully encapsulates a dilemma that’s complex, hilarious, and utterly believable . . . Directed by Rosamunde Hutt with careful attention to varied moods and nuances, Abdulrazzak’s monologues form a rich and seamless whole. " —Jean Schiffman, SF Examiner
"A provocative and hilarious solo show . . . Iraqi-British playwright Hassan Abdulrazzak brilliantly wrings comedy from the idiosyncratic obsessions of four very different young men as their lives intersect with the tragic state of the world around them." —Sam Hurwitt, Mercury News, San Francisco
"A tour- de-force staging of four satiric agitprop monologues"
—Kedar Adour, TheatreWorld, San Francisco
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''The impressive actor essaying these roles is Asif Khan, presenting a tour de force that guarantees him as a name to watch out for. Flitting from one character to another is no easy feat, especially when their personalities are as different as their accents here''
-Shai Hussain
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''Asif Khan’s powerhouse performance''
-Hackney Gazette
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"Performed by Khan with a fervour that does not falter to his last line"
-Yasmina Allouche, MEMO
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"Khan engrosses us in the diverse stories of the four characters, switching between accents and personalities competently, whilst performing each story flawlessly…"
Holly O’Mahony, A Younger Theatre
"He was sometimes unrecognisable when he transitioned between the characters…He managed to combine the energy of stand-up with the naturalism of theatre and even the more unlikable characters he portrayed were compelling. Not only did Khan master all four roles but he also conveyed a real sense of the minor characters in each tale"
-Simon Fearn, Cuckoo Review
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''As performed by Asif Khan in a one-man show lucidly directed by Rosamunde Hutt, the playlets have a charm that comes from the actor’s ability to be completely convincing. Khan does everything you’d expect, jumping from one personality and one accent to the others, and he does it all beautifully''
-Aleks Sierz
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"Perhaps what is most extraordinary in this exploration of the ordinary is the performance of the only actor Asif Khan, who jumps between scenes and characters with such ease and deftness…In each story every character was so unambiguously defined and appeared so complete it was hard to imagine that Khan and director Rosamunde Hutt had spent anything less than a lifetime defining each mannerism, trait, and quirk…the subtleties of Abdulrazzak’s play in the hands of a lesser actor would have been completely lost, as a script that deals in the nitty-gritties of the ordinary is necessarily reliant on a truly exceptional performance to lift quotidian mundanity into something so compellingly watchable"
–Neil Cheesman, London Theatre1
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"Khan’s acting talent is indisputable – he almost literally became three very different characters, who all feature in a longer show acclaimed on its earlier run at Arcola Theatre in London. He was so convincing in each case that when I spotted him in the courtyard after the show, I could not guess who this man actually is, or what his accent might really be"
-Catherine Meek, Fringe Guru
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