Three New East End Plays at the Hackney Empire

Next month sees the Hackney Empire Studio play host to Triangle 2009, a season of three new plays by new East End playwrights. The Hackney Empire, in collaboration with Angle Theatre, is presenting a short run of Commercial Rd (3-21 June), a new play by Mina Maisuria, and staged readings of Khadija Is 18 (14 June) and The Sea At Night (21 June), by Luciana Saldanha and Shamser Sinha respectively.

Triangle 2009 is the culmination of an initiative launched by Angle Theatre last year that invited people from some of London’s most deprived areas to write a play and have it developed into a full-scale production. Sponsored by the design and marketing agency Pentagram and supported by the Arts Council and private donors, the campaign material was translated into five different languages and targeted 50 international communities in East London.

Commercial Rd, Khadija Is 18 and The Sea At Night were chosen by a panel of judges from over 70 submitted scripts. As part of their development each writer received theatre tickets, script advice, workshops and mentoring from established playwrights and directors.

Commercial Rd, directed by Angle Theatre’s artistic director, Charlotte Gwinner, explores the struggles and fears of a group of dispossessed Asian petrol station workers in East London.

Mina Maisuria is a 33-year-old playwright and actress born and brought up in East London. Her first play, Krishna’s Tea Party, was developed and shown as a rehearsed reading at Soho New Writers Theatre. A further work, Babe and Farishta, was read at Hampstead Theatre in conjunction with Tamasha Theatre Company.