Dhamaka Arts

I’m back in Manchester, cup of tea in hand, completely exhausted… and completely full.

Week one, phase one of rehearsals for Khandan (Family) – The Shame Strikes Back! is done. And what a week it has been. There genuinely aren’t enough words to hold it all, but I’m going to try.

This phase has been a deep dive. Not a gentle paddle at the edge, but a full-body plunge into the work. We’ve been mining—digging through memory, experience, identity—searching for the raw material that will shape this show. Alongside that, it’s been the graft outside the rehearsal room too: laying foundations for promotion, meeting venues, thinking about ticket sales, securing match funding. The invisible labour that holds the visible magic.

And yet, at the heart of it all, it always comes back to the work.

This week has been about returning to queer space—my queer bubble—with my people. There’s something incredibly powerful about that. To be held in a space where queerness, intersectionality, and lived experience aren’t just welcomed, but centred. Where I can tell an honest story, a true story, a South Asian, Muslim, Pakistani, Northern story—without shrinking it.

The rehearsal room itself has been intense, but in the best possible way. This is how I love to work.

It’s been a process of improvising, writing, playing, investigating. Asking questions, then pushing those questions further. Breaking through blocks. Sitting in the discomfort and then cracking it open. We’ve been capturing everything—every instinct, every impulse—gathering the raw material, the messy, unfiltered stuff. And then slowly, carefully, shaping it. Refining it. Finding the gold hidden inside what first feels like chaos.

It really does feel like uncovering diamonds in the rough.

Working with Jenn in this process has been something special. We move fast, we think fast, and there’s a real synchronicity between us. Ideas bounce, shift, evolve in real time. There’s an intensity to how we work, but also a deep trust. We can push, challenge, and build without hesitation. It’s efficient, yes—but more than that, it’s alive. Electric. The kind of collaboration where something unexpected and brilliant can emerge at any moment.

And emotionally—this week has taken us there.

There have been tears. Not just from the weight of the material, but from release. From recognition. From allowing things to surface that have been sitting quietly for a long time. But alongside that, there’s been so much laughter. So much joy. Real, undeniable queer joy.

That balance—that coexistence of heaviness and humour—is where the work breathes.

What’s been created in just one week feels huge. And the fact that it’s only the beginning is kind of wild.

Now, we step away.

This is how I work. The process is built in phases, with space in between. Time to rest. Time to let everything settle, filter through, and land properly—mentally, physically, spiritually. You can’t stay in that level of intensity without pause. The breaks are part of the work. They allow what we’ve uncovered to deepen, to shift, to become something clearer before we return and dive again.

And we will dive again.

In a couple of weeks, we go back into the room, back into queer space, back into the work—with fresh eyes, open hearts, and whatever new discoveries have been quietly forming in the background.

I’m so excited. I can see this show taking shape. I can feel it.

Huge love and gratitude to my crew, to Bradford Arts Centre for backing this work and championing stories like this—queer, intersectional, Northern, and rooted in South Asian Muslim experience—and to Arts Council England for funding this show and making it possible to create queer magic and return to a deep, necessary exploration of queer space.

Tickets are now on sale.
You can book your tickets via the Bradford Arts Centre website—head to the link in my bio or visit:

https://bdartscentre.co.uk/whats-on/events/khandan-shame-generation/

Come be part of it. Come witness it. Come share in the joy, the chaos, the truth.

Phase one is complete.

And we’re only just getting started.