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Samia Djilli and Sarah Allen Productions announced the full cast and creatives for Saher Shah’s debut play Vitamin D which opens at Soho Theatre in September, following its national tour last year. Melina Namdar directs the all-female cast – Anshula Bain (Friend), Renu Brindle (Mama), Rosaleen Burton (Colleague), Zyna Goldy (Aunty), Saher Shah (Larki) and Ambika Sharma (Bestie/Baaji).
The creative team is completed by Assistant Director Natasha Samrai, Movement Director Mateus Daniel, Dramaturg Kash Arshad, Sound Designer Riwa Saab, Set and Costume Designer Maariyah Sharjil and Lighting Designer Jack Weir.
Saher Shah’s play exploring the stigma of divorce in British South Asian culture. The production opens on 5 September at Soho Theatre, with previews from the 3 September, and runs until 21 September.
Larki is moving back in with her parents and going through a divorce…it’s tragic. She’s facing opinions, questions and smothering love from friends, family, aunties and “BFF’s”, plus the epic decision between jalebi or gulaab jamun. She’s searching for something, she just hasn’t quite figured out what yet.
Following its award-winning and sell-out tour, Vitamin D (Winner of Best New Play Raising Awareness at London Pub Theatre Awards 2023 and Finalist for Best Stage Production in the Asian Media Awards 2023) looks at the changing relationships between women, complexities of emotional crises, British South Asian culture and the stigma of divorce.
Can Larki be a happy woman in the face of her own and others’ judgements?
Saher Shah plays Larki. She is a British Pakistani actor, writer and poet from East London. As an actor for stage and screen, her credits include Magid-Zafar (Film4/BFI) and You Are Here as a Witness (Theatre in the Mill). As a writer she is an alumni of the Soho and MFest Writers Lab, the Rifco Associates programme, and was an artist in residence with Rosemary Branch Theatre on their Shrill Voices programme. She has received seed commissions by Kahani Arts and Rifco Theatre company to develop new writing, and is currently working on a short film with MFest.
Anshula Bain plays Friend. Her theatre credits include Whodunnit [Unrehearsed] (Park Theatre), We Could All Be Perfect (Sheffield Theatres), Tartuffe (Birmingham Rep), Lotus Beauty (Hampstead Theatre) and Nothing (Royal Exchange Theatre).
Renu Brindle plays Mama. Her theatre credits include Favour (Bush Theatre), Silence (Donmar Warehouse) and Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory). Her television credits include Professor T, The Crow Girl, Virdee, The Red King, Delia, Trying, Black Ops, Better and The Nevers; and for film, Polite Society, Salvage, Look to the Light, The Fold and Land Gold Women.
Rosaleen Burton plays Colleague. Her theatre credits include Jumper (Lion & Unicorn Theatre), The Church of the Sturdy Virgin (Vaults Festival), The Drowned World (Stockwell Playhouse) and The Neath (Vaults Festival); and for television, her credits include Intergalactic.
Zyna Goldy plays Aunty. Her theatre credits include Mary (Hampstead Theatre). Her film credits include Forgive Me Father; and her short films include, Waiting and The Half You Hate – which won Best Short at New York Lift Off Film Festival 2022.
Ambika Sharma plays Bestie/Baaji. Her theatre credits include A Christmas Carol (Albany Theatre), She’s Royal (Birmingham Hippodrome, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre), Sky Comedy Rep presents Parklife (Birmingham Rep) and Around the World in 80 Days-ish (York Theatre Royal); and for film, Kiran.
Melina Namdar directs. She is a British Iranian director and writer from West London. In 2022, she received the prestigious National Theatre/Peter Shaffer Commission with Tamasha Theatre. Namdar’s productions have garnered critical acclaim, earning her nominations for the Asian Media Awards, Black British Theatre Awards and Offies. Her directing credits include Vitamin D (UK tour), All the Happy Things (Theatre503), and Passion Fruit (New Diorama). Assistant/Associate Director credits include Arabian Nights (Bristol Old Vic), Baghdaddy (Royal Court Theatre), Orfeus: A House Music Opera (Young Vic) and Ctrl Alt Delete (Lyric Hammersmith).
Get your tickets here.
WRITTEN BY: Nura Arooj