Peanut Butter & Blueberries comes to Kiln Theatre in London

Where and when?

Kiln Theatre
269 Kilburn High Road, London, UK, NW6 7JR

8 August – 31 August 2024

What’s the show about?

Hafsah and Bilal are not looking for love. She has her faith, her books, her dreams. Bilal…well he’s just trying to get through uni.

Studying in London, far from their hometowns of Bradford and Birmingham, they find common ground over a peanut butter and blueberry sandwich. Just as their connection is growing, the past and social realities become harder to ignore. Between opportunities, obligations and injustices, will they be able to choose each other?

In her debut play, author, poet and educator Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan explores how to love when the weight of the world is on your shoulders.

Who’s in the cast?

Usaamah Ibraheem Hussain plays Bilal. His theatre credits include Brown Boys Swim (Soho Theatre). His television work includes Surface and the upcoming BBC series Virdee. Humera Syed plays Hafsah. Her theatre credits include: Great Expectations (Royal Exchange Theatre), FAITH(RSC/Coventry City of Culture), The Village (Theatre Royal Stratford East), The Arabian Knights (Royal Lyceum Theatre), and Anita and Me (UK Tour). Her television work includes: The Stranger and Hullraisers.

Creative team

Director Sameena Hussain; Designer Khadija Raja; Lighting Designer Rajiv Pattani; Sound Designer Helen Skiera; Casting Director Julia Horan CDG; Production Manager Marty Moore; Costume Supervisor Maariyah Sharjil

Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan is a writer, poet and educator. Her latest book, Seeing for Ourselves: And even stranger possibilities was published by Hajar Press in September 2023. Prior to this she authored Tangled in Terror: Uprooting Islamophobia (Pluto Press, 2022). In 2019 her debut poetry collection Postcolonial Banter was published, featuring eight years’ worth of poetry including her viral poem This is Not a Humanising Poem which placed her as runner-up of the National Roundhouse Poetry Slam in 2017 and has over two million views online. Postcolonial Banter critiques and troubles narratives about racism, systemic Islamophobia, the function of the nation-state and secularist visions of identity. She was resident writer at the Leeds Playhouse (2021-22), a Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Geography at Queen Mary University of London (2020-22), and was selected for the Royal Court 2021 Writers Group.

Sameena Hussain is freelance Theatre Director based in West Yorkshire. She is Associate Director at Leeds Playhouse. Theatre credits as Director: Romeo & Juliet, Leeds Conservatoire (2023) A Christmas Carol, Hull Truck Theatre (2022) I Wanna Be Yours Leeds Playhouse (2022) Our White Skoda Octavia Eastern Angles (2021) Dir: Decades Leeds Playhouse (2021) Dir: La Voix Humaine (2020), Opera North/Leeds Playhouse; theatre credits as Associate Director: A Christmas Carol (2020) Henry V, (2019) Lawrence Batley Theatre; and theatre credits as Assistant Director: Dr Korczak’s Dr Korczak’s Example, Night Before Christmas, There Are No Beginnings, (2019-20) Leeds Playhouse Europe, Road and A Christmas Carol (2018) (Leeds Playhouse)

Access performances

Audio Described               29 August, 7pm, preceded by a Touch Tour
Captioned                           22 August, 7pm
Relaxed                               28 August, 2.30pm

Under 26 – £10 (subject to availability)
Access, Over 65, Local, Student and Group rates available, for further details, please see the website.

Subsidised tickets
We offer free tickets and exclusive discounts to those who can’t afford to come. If you fit any of the below criteria, get in touch and we can help you get a ticket.

If you are homeless, out of work or receive Housing Benefits, Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance (valid ID, statements or proof universal tax credit will be required when collecting tickets).

Employees of NHS, Police Force, Fire Brigade, Armed Forces, The Coastguard, RNLI, Prison Officers or Social Care Workers (valid ID payslip and name badges will be required when collecting tickets).

Email [email protected]

Prayer Space
During the run of Peanut Butter & Blueberries, there will be prayer space available on the Kiln Theatre premises for audiences to use. The show is expected to end before 8.30pm throughout the run and the theatre will facilitate audience members, who need to pray the sunset prayer, in doing so immediately after the show. Additionally, there are two mosques at a short distance from the theatre: the Kilburn Islamic Centre (292-294 Kilburn High Rd) just across the street (400 feet) and the Kilburn & Hampstead Masjid (239 Kilburn High Rd) a 1 minute walk away.