This blog post was written for East Midlands Theatre.
Set across the last ten nights of Ramadan, “10 Nights” by Shahid Iqbal Khan tells the story of Yasser (Adeel Ali), a young man who elects to take part in Itikaf, a period of isolation spent in the mosque, devoted to prayers and reflection. His reasons for doing this to begin with appear to be due to pressure from others, and a longing to prove himself. However, as the play goes on, different parts of Yasser’s tragic backstory are revealed, and his motivations do not appear quite so forced on him after all.
Throughout the entire 80 minute runtime, Ali is the only actor on the stage, but any fears that the story could begin to feel stale or slow are unfounded. Ali embodies such a wide variety of characters, that the stage has never felt more alive. Each character has a distinctive voice – Yasser’s father strict and harsh, Itikaf expert Salah well-spoken and condescending, and Yasser’s childhood rival Usman slow and mocking. Although having a single actor portray multiple characters could feel confusing, Ali confidently switches from one to the other so seamlessly that it is obvious who he is playing, and conversations between the characters are always easy to follow.
Ali takes a little time to warm up to the role, the opening moments of the play seeing him deliver lines are breakneck speed, so that key plot points are not given ample time to land properly with the audience. As he settles into the role, however, moments are given more time to breathe, and the plot begins to come to life. Ali forms an incredible connection with the audience, as Yasser breaks the fourth wall to share his intimate thoughts and feelings with us. The play was staged in the main house at Derby Theatre, although one cannot help but feel that the more intimate surroundings of the studio theatre would have benefitted this production.
The set is simple, allowing the surroundings to easily switch from Yasser’s bedroom at home, to his hovel in the mosque where he spends the ten nights of Itikaf. These transitions are helped by background projections (Rudi Okassi-Henry), although occasionally these transitions felt a little sudden and unnecessary. Where the set truly excels is in its lighting design (Rajiv Pattani), with clever use of lights reminiscent of a ticking clock helping to show the passage of time. Lighting also helps Ali make use of every part of the stage – the front of the stage is awash with bright light as Ali remembers trips to the beach with his childhood friends, whilst the simple lighting up of a doorway helps us to imagine an unseen character entering or exiting the stage.
Director Samir Bhamra manages to find lots of highly comedic moments throughout, particularly in Yasser’s childish competition with Usman (one standout moment sees Yasser attempt to race Usman to finish prayers first, only to learn that he has finished too quickly and must pray again). There is also some excellent physical comedy at the beginning, as Yasser searches for ways to become a TikTok superstar. This sets up a nice early conflict for Yasser, as he is forced to give up his mobile phone upon entering the mosque for Itikaf. It is a shame that this early set up is never paid off later – we never see Yasser reunited with his phone, or learn how Itikaf has changed his relationship with social media, the play instead choosing to focus on deeper themes related to bereavement, addiction and religion in the final scenes.
There is also lots of space within this production to educate, as Yasser explains to the audience about the night of angels, or Laylat al-Qadr, and the different types of prayers, including Fajr, the morning prayer, and Nafl, the voluntary prayer. Throughout, Yasser recites parts of the Quran in Urdu, before giving an English translation in the final scene. The way in which Yasser’s understanding and appreciation of religion changes across the course of the play echoes the understanding of the audience, particularly those who may not be familiar with all the different aspects of Islam. Particularly resonant is Yasser’s early questioning of why Allah has 99 different names, a flippant remark that receives a laugh from the audience. By the end of the play, after his time spent reflecting in the mosque, he understands why.
This is a play full of big ideas, but told on a small scale. The stakes here are incredibly low – we are simply following the story of one man, whose biggest obstacles include surviving without TikTok and chunky chips. Whilst Yasser’s backstory certainly includes some elements of tragedy, as he discusses the death of his close friend Aftab, the play ends on an uplifting and thoughtful note. Fascinating, educational and incredibly well-acted.
Tom Morley, January 2025
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