Tag: writing

• Stronger Proposals” and Silent Shelves: The Reality of Being a Marginalised Theatre Artist in Manchester

  By Sid Akbar I’m not writing this from a place of polish. I’m writing it from the shelf – where yet another piece of work, another application, another vital story has been quietly filed away as “unsuccessful”. Recently, my project Besharam [shame-LESS] was turned down for a Manchester commission. The feedback? It was “solid and…

  dhamakaarts

  6th May 2025

  Uncategorized

  artists, arts council England, bid writing, funding, queer-people-of-colour, queer-stories, queer-theatre, theatre, writing

• Funding, Futility, and the Fire to Keep Going!

  By Sid Akbar Following on from my last blog post, I didn’t expect to be writing again so soon. But here I am — because I’ve just received the news that our Arts Council application for The Wrath of Khandan wasn’t successful. Not because there was anything wrong with it. In fact, they said it…

  dhamakaarts

  6th May 2025

  theatre

  artists, funding, growth, lgbtq, mental-health, qtipoc, queer, social-enterprise, theatre, theatre making, writing

• Testing The Wrath of Khandan at Bold Bradford – Here’s What Happened

  Stepping onto the stage at Bold Bradford was both nerve-wracking and exhilarating. It had been almost two years since Besharam, and I hadn’t performed in front of a live audience in a long time. Sharing The Wrath of Khandan – The Shame Strikes Back, a deeply personal piece drawn from my lived experience, felt like a huge…

  dhamakaarts

  29th Mar 2025

  Uncategorized

  art, interview, music, theatre, writing

• Besharam [shame-LESS]: A Journey of Pride, Storytelling, and Impact

  Besharam [shame-LESS] was my coming-out story, and it feels surreal to look back on how it all came together in 2023. For years, I’d kept a lot of my truth hidden, especially when it came to my queerness and my identity as a Pakistani man from a traditional Muslim background. But writing and performing Besharam [shame-LESS] was not…

  dhamakaarts

  26th Feb 2025

  Uncategorized

  bradford, healing, lgbt, life, mental-health, qtipoc, queer-people-of-colour, shame, theatre, writing