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Muslims and Islam in contemporary British theatre and the image of the ‘British Muslim Self’ in Guleraana Mir’s Coconut
- Source: Performing Islam, Volume 11, Issue 1, Dec 2022, p. 35 - 51
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- 06 May 2022
- 01 Dec 2022
- 06 Jul 2023
Abstract
Despite their deep-seated presence in Britain, Muslims have been mostly excluded from theatre and popular entertainment. Sociopolitical restrictions have had an impact on the development of Muslim playwriting and it has taken longer than expected for Muslims to find their place within British theatre. Due to the expanding presence of Muslims in British and especially London theatres, the early twenty-first century has become a watershed for British Muslims. This article aims to show how British Muslims describe and represent their cultural, social and religious identities in theatrical works in twenty-first century Britain. Through Guleraana Mir’s play Coconut (2018) – an example of British Muslim playwriting and representation – the representation of the relationship between Islam and Britishness will be examined. This article falls in the wider context of Islamic performances and theatre practices of the twenty-first-century Britain.