THE URBAN GIRLāS GUIDE TO CAMPING
Authorās Note
The first of Mulberry Theatre Companyās productions to premiere in London, this play is a new direction for the company and its work. Rather than being developed through practical workshops with school-age students, Urban Girl was the result of a series of round-table discussions with a specially convened Advisory Committee of former Mulberry students (and some staff), mostly young women in their early twenties, either at university or starting careers. Rather than ātraining the group upā as potential performers for the show, these meetings were much more of a discussion among equals about what this yearās play could be. Chaired with wit and warmth by my collaborator Luke Kernaghan, these weekly meetings were a delight; by turns lively, heated, poignant and laugh-out-loud funny.
For my part, I started with a provocation. I put it to the committee that representations of young British Asian women in our media were woefully lacking; they were either oppressed, exotic, or (occasionally) extremists ā or the wives or sisters of extremists. This simply didnāt chime with anything I had experienced at Mulberry in the four years I had been there. We agreed to do something about it. This honest discussion about how best to use this opportunity to speak to a mainstream audience, in a way brought us full circle, back to the way we had developed Mehndi Night ā just us and a committee of East Londonās young women, with nothing more than a blank canvas, and a desire to imprint it with something extraordinary.
The result, in both this play and the others, will I hope go some way towards doing justice to the charm, resilience and modernity of the young women of Mulberry School. They have been an inspiration and a delight for the past four years, and not one of these plays would have been possible without them. Long may they, and their theatre company, continue.
The Urban Girlās Guide to Camping was first performed on 14 July 2010 at Southwark Playhouse, London, with the following cast:
| PARVIN | Rumi Begum |
| THAMANNA | Rumina Kamal |
| RAJNA | Farzana Parvin |
| SABINA | Sultana S. Jahan |
The part of GIRL was still being cast at the time of going to press.
| Director | Luke Kernaghan |
| Designer | Barbara Fuchs |
I am also grateful to the Advisory Committee of Mulberry alumni and staff who gave so generously of their time in developing ideas for the play with me: Afsana Begum, Nasima Begum, Noorzahan Begum, Rasma Begum, Rumi Begum, Shanaz Begum, Sarah Dickson, Shara Ismail, Dipa Khatun, Asma Rahman, Shunita Rahman, Nilima Sahu, Farzana Shipa, Najiba Sultana, Rouni Sultana and Jill Tuffee.
Characters
SABINA, twenty, practical, confident, slightly boyish. Beginning a career as a writer and magazine columnist. The only character who speaks to the audience
THAMANNA, twenty, glamorous, feminine, cocky attitude. A beautician, amateur singer, and part-time PCSO (Police Community Support Officer)
RAJNA, twenty-one, forthright, articulate, an imposing presence. A feminist academic and activist about to start an MPhil and university career
PARVIN, nineteen, small, shy, pretty but not confident. Works as a receptionist for a Canary Wharf firm, though about to give it up to get married
GIRL, non-speaking, seven or eight. It is important that she is played by a real child and is not imaginary.
Notes
All the characters are second- or third-generation British Bengali Muslims from Tower Hamlets, East London.
The locations vary between flats in Tower Hamlets, and Ashdown Forest in Sussex.
The time is 2010, early summer.
Translations throughout the text are marked āSylhetiā, the dialect of Bengali from the Sylhet region of Bangladesh ā which is the most widely spoken in East London.
All the characters are onstage. THAMANNA, RAJNA and PARVIN are busy packing clothes and other gear for camping (not all of it appropriate) into large b...
