01 — Project details

In September 2025, I was Artist-in-residence at the OSO Theatre in Barnes.

During the residency, I worked on the first iteration of Table Reads, an experimental public participation project I designed to bring together a group of strangers weekly to performatively read the same text.

.  

02 — Creative process

For eight weeks, I was given rehearsal space at the theatre, one morning a week, and an evening slot to present my outcomes.

During this period, I recruited a cast of local actors and nonactors who committed to meeting weekly for six weeks, organised each session as a structured rehearsal with warm-up and character development exercises, prepared script notes and further reading on the themes of the play, and organised refreshments.

Together we read Ya Tali'al-Shagarah, a play written in Arabic by Egyptian writer Tawfiq al-Hakim (1898-1987), translated into English as The Tree Climber in 1966 by Denys Johnson-Davies. It is al-Hakim’s only absurdist play, which also incorporates customs and folklore of Muslim culture and Arab identity, about a detective, a lizard, a time-travelling dervish, and a magical tree, all turn the quiet life of a married couple upside down.

At each weekly session, I added new elements–props, lighting, gestures, and a soundscape which I designed.

03 — The performance

At the end of the residency we presented a performative, script-in-hand reading of The Tree Climber to a public audience.