BUTCHER BOYS (a Winner 2008)
- In development with the Royal Exchange.
CHACHA: I’ve worked with him while you’ve been away. The boy isn’[t a fool. Have you seen Khan's Meat Centre? Three times the size of this, proper displays, 15 staff - full time! Yaar, when are you going to learn that you're lucky to have a son who's interested in business? He's going to be married soon - InshaAllah - he'll have a wife and family to take care of. You and me, we're getting too old for this competition...
Biography
Naylah Ahmed was born and lives in Birmingham and has been writing since the late 1990s. She started working on poetry and short prose (including the publication of two short stories by Tindal Street Press) and went on to develop her writing in radio and other media. She has had a few plays produced for BBC Radio 4, and has also worked as a radio drama producer for nearly 10 years at the BBC. During her time with the BBC she was Development Producer for Radio Drama, and then went on to be founding Script Editor of Silver Street, the first British Asian soap which ran from 2004-2010. Naylah has also written for television (including BBC Scotland’s prime time show River City) and for theatre, winning The Bruntwood Playwriting Competition with her play Butcher Boys in 2007. She was also one of the writers on These Four Streets, a multi-writer play produced at Birmingham Repertory Theatre 2008. Naylah is currently working on her first short film and feature length screenplay and is also awaiting production of her latest stage play, Mustafa, at Birmingham Rep.
Synopsis
BUTCHER BOYS is set in ‘Hussain and Son Halal Butchers’, in the heart of an inner-city, predominately Asian populated area. It tells the story of Jaleel Hussain and his brother, battling over the family business and its future. When a young non-Muslim man, Mike, arrives to work at the shop that conflict over its future accelerates and puts the future of a family business at risk.
Interview
How did you come to write BUTCHER BOYS and enter it into the Bruntwood?
This play’s been around for a while, both in my head and on paper. Butcher Boys was inspired by a summer in the late 90s when I spent a few months driving my father to and from work. He owned and ran a halal butchers shop, and I was unemployed at the time, so due to his ill health but determination still to do a morning’s work, I became his designated driver. After a few weeks I decided to stick around at work with him and write from the shop – at Dad’s desk, instead of traipsing back and forth. The play I was supposed to be working on wasn’t written that summer, but I was inspired by the world I was introduced to, especially when the men working for my Dad started to forget I was there and carry on as normal around me…
The title came early and once the play or main idea was outlined I got onto an initiative for new writing at a theatre company and the play underwent development for a few years – yes, years! I was new to theatre and despite having two commissions at this early stage the development of this play went on for far too long sadly and in the end the company decided not to produce. So, I was left with a play I really cared about but didn’t know whether it was any good. I Googled some playwriting competitions and was lucky enough to land on the Bruntwood site first. It was exactly what I needed, somewhere to send my play, under a pseudonym and see what happens… I just wanted to know whether the work I’d put in had been worth anything.
How has being involved with the competition changed your work as a writer?
Well, given the answer to the question above, you can imagine how great it felt to make it to the long list. That was enough for me, just to know the play made sense, that there was something in it that was worthwhile – and my work wasn’t wasted. Being one of the winners though has meant that I trust myself as a writer – a playwright. As I said it might not be perfect, I may need to work harder than some, but I know now that if Butcher Boys had something that got it through so many entries to the final handful of winners then it’s worth investing time and energy into writing for the stage. Also, the prize money is a blessing. Bruntwood allowed me to buy time to write.
What advice would you give someone considering entering the competition this year?
Enter it! If you have a play you’re working on, or an idea you can write in the coming months I really can’t think of any reason not to. You have some time until the deadline for entries, so continue to work on your play until it’s the best it can be in the time you have, and then send it in. If you’ve written a play but not shown it to anyone then this is the time to dust it off and send it in – there’s nothing to lose.
