Written by maatin and directed by Imy Wyatt Corner, Duck runs at the Arcola Theatre in London from 27 June – 15 July 2023.
It’s the summer of 2005, and Ismail – ‘Smiley’ to his friends – is about to become the youngest-ever player in his elite public school’s First XI cricket team. He sets his sights on immortality – breaking the school batting record and getting his name into Wisden.
But at the start of the season, new coach Mr. Eagles takes a particular dislike to him, threatening to derail Ismail’s historic moment. Worse still, no one seems to get what he’s going through. Set during England’s famous Ashes victory and the events of 7/7, Ismail discovers that cricket might not be able to take care of everything as it once did.
Originally developed through the Hampstead Theatre’s INSPIRE programme, and first presented as part of the Footprints Festival at Jermyn Street Theatre.
The Artiscape spoke to maatin about this upcoming production.
What inspired you to write the play?
maatin: It’s a one-person show about a British south Asian, Muslim teenage boy, which at the time felt like nothing I’d ever seen on stage before.
That being said, I think the story and subject matter are highly relatable and universal – we all know what it’s like to have been a teenager and all the challenges that presents. So the school environment created a very familiar setting.
Rather than the non-white character sticking out for being different, I felt like a more interesting starting point would be for them to firmly fit in. They’re popular, they’re succeeding. Then can we tip the balance and see what happens. How far can their class and wealth privilege take them if their skin is still brown?
Cricket felt like an amazing way to explore this – the duality of Englishness and Indianness within the sport, the idea of the good immigrant as accepted for their elite talent, the notion of manners and an honour code in the game. I wanted to unpick those themes and question their validity.
I had been inspired to write a one-person show after watching the incredible Death of England by Roy Williams, as well as the desire to challenge myself as a writer by doing something new with form.
Can you tell us about the main character in this production?
maatin: Ismail is a fifteen year old boy who’s a star cricket player at his very posh, very elitist school. It’s the sort of school you hear about because of how many Prime Ministers went there.
At the start of the season, Ismail’s got his sights set on becoming the best cricketer in school history – that’s his entire world basically. But, as the name Duck might suggest, Ismail’s batting performance takes a turn for the worse (for any non-cricket fans, DUCK means 0 runs scored, which is pretty much the worst thing that can happen for a batsman.) That and many other things start to go wrong for Ismail, really for the first time in his life, and we get to follow him over the course of a very challenging summer.
And in the background – the play is set in 2005, you’ve got England trying to win the Ashes, and the 7/7 London bombings take place. Which adds a layer of context for Ismail, who has to figure out what it means to be Brown, to be Muslim, at this age, in this place, at this time.
What were the challenges you faced in putting this one-man show together?
maatin: This is my first full-length production, so there’s been a lot of new experiences and plenty to learn along the way.
I’ve been working on the play for three years, and keeping the drive going to get it on stage has been hard to maintain, as any creative facing knockbacks and rejection can attest to. The hardest thing to do is champion your own work, and especially as a minoritised artist, you feel a huge amount of pressure that this is your one chance that you can’t waste.
As producer as well as writer, I’ve had to balance a creative role with a very functional one, and finding room in my brain and time to tackle all fronts has been extremely challenging. However, it’s allowing me to bring to life the show according to what I value, which is to do my part to create opportunities for creatives of minoritised and underrepresented backgrounds. I’m really proud of the work that’s gone into trying to achieve that, including holding performances for audiences traditionally underrepresented in theatre to feel welcomed, celebrated, and comfortable – I hope people will join us on Friday 30 June and Saturday 1 July for ‘A Space For Us’.
What are you looking forward to, in performing in this production?
maatin: I am very much not the performer in the show! We are lucky to have cast a phenomenal actor, Omar Bynon, in the role. He has such a captivating energy and warmness, and is so naturally engaging as a storyteller – as soon as we met him during auditions, I could see Omar as Ismail.
I’d also like to shout out my whole creative team, led by director Imy Wyatt Corner – there’s eleven of us in total working on the show(!) who are an incredibly talented bunch. I’m particularly proud to be working with a number of south Asian and Muslim creatives, and for many of us this is a big step in our careers. Creating opportunities for people who are underrepresented both on and off the stage is my number one goal in this work.
What would you like an audience to take away from this?
maatin: For those who have experienced similar things, to feel seen and know they’re not the only one who’s gone through something like this. The play is there for them to hopefully find a way to heal.
For those who can’t necessarily relate, I hope they take away that this story is not unique – it is something lots of people go through and live with, and we bear those scars for a lifetime. I hope that it lends a perspective to them that they may previously not have given much thought to.
Written by maatin and directed by Imy Wyatt Corner, Duck runs at the Arcola Theatre in London from 27 June – 15 July 2023. To book tickets for Duck visit this link.
