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Artistic director Hannah Abdule, a civil servant, co-founded
Side eYe Productions in 2019 to create opportunities she felt
were denied to people like her.
She loved drama at school, but as an adult found herself
thinking: "Surely I can't perform in my headscarf, and if I do,
there 'll be content at odds with the stories that I want to
tell."
Those stories have complex characters that are not defined only
by culture or Muslim faith.
"Dugsi Dayz", a comedy about dugsi, or Islamic school, by writer
and actor Sabrina Ali, won an award at the Edinburgh Fringe
festival in August and this month tours England, from Sheffield
in the north to Bristol in the southwest.
Last week, Side eYe's newest production "Desperate Times", the
story of a Muslim teacher, who tangles herself in an hilarious
web of lies to try to conceal her kleptomania, played to full
houses at the Somali Week festival, organized by the Kayd Somali
Arts and Culture organization in east London.
As part of its inclusive mission, Side eYe aims to give
opportunities to Somali women with little theatrical experience.
"Desperate Times" is the first full-length play of
journalist-turned-playwright Amal Abdi, while Nadjma Abshir, who
works in marketing, made her acting debut in the one-woman play.
Abshir said Side eYe provides an outlet for "the misfits" who
want to be creative, rather than pursue the steady jobs their
parents, as a first generation of the diaspora, considered
essential.
"Our parents had more of a mentality of survival and that is
getting traditional jobs in sciences, teaching," Abshir said.
"We've done what we've needed to do and are looking at the
things that truly interest us."
(Reporting by Barbara Lewis and Hannah McKay; Editing by Emelia
Sithole-Matarise)
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