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Kamal Kaan

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Kamal Kaan
BornBradford, West Yorkshire[1]
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge
Glasgow Caledonian University
GenreDrama, Comedy, Poetry

Kamal Kaan is a British playwright, screenwriter and actor. He was listed in Prolific North's top scriptwriters of 2017.[2] He also served as Script Consultant for Clio Barnard on the BAFTA nominated Outstanding British film Ali & Ava.[3]

Biography

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Kaan was born and raised in Bradford, West Yorkshire.[1] He was educated at Dixon's City Academy and then received a scholarship to attend the University of Cambridge, where he read Architecture.[4] He was then awarded a scholarship from Shed productions to complete a Masters in TV Fiction Writing at Glasgow Caledonian University.[5] Kaan is from a working-class background and his father was textile mill worker. He is one of ten siblings and was the first from his family to go away to university. [6]

Career

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Theatre

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Kaan was selected for The Emerging Writers Group 2016 at The Bush Theatre, London[7] and for the BBC Writersroom Drama Room in 2017.[8] His first professional commission was in collaboration with artist David Shearing: and it all comes down to this...[9]

In 2020, Kaan wrote Us (Post 23/3). The play detailed the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on British Asian communities and was described by Emma Clayton in Telegraph and Argus as "darkly humorous".[10]

Kaan wrote a modern adaptation of Antigone, Aaliyah: After Antigone, for Bradford-based theatre company Freedom Studios in 2021. It was described as 'the most radical rewrite'[11] by Michael Billington in The Guardian and was performed to a live audience and streamed online to a remote audience simultaneously.[12] Writing in The Times Literary Supplement, Marchella Ward described it as 'an ancient play of the moment' and 'strikingly modern'.[13] The show gained four stars in The Stage as a work of 'a necessary rage, and one that we should see more of in the stories that theatre tells'.[14]

In 2022, Kaan wrote Amma, a virtual reality play about Bangladeshi women's experiences of the War of Independence.[15]

Radio

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Kaan won the BBC Radio 3 Verb New Voices 2015 with his audio drama as the cloud takes its last breath.[16]

Since then he has written a number of radio dramas for BBC Radio 4, including:

  • The Headline Ballads: Whilst the Water Weeps Next to the Water, a drama-documentary about the Boxing day floods in 2015, paralleled with the flooding in Bangladesh.[1]

In 2022, Kaan wrote 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' for the Northern Broadsides Winter Tales podcast series.[21]

Screen

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Kaan worked as Script Consultant with writer and director Clio Barnard on the BAFTA nominated Outstanding British film[22] Ali & Ava. He helped to shape the story, giving feedback on treatments, scripts, locations and character research.[23] In The Observer, Mark Kermode described the film as a 'pitch perfect Bradford love story'.[24]

Acting

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Kaan's work for screen includes Five Days (series 2), The Syndicate, Doctors, Ali & Ava.

On stage, Kaan has appeared in: The Chef Show, directed by Stefan Escreet, winner of the Rural Touring Show Awards 2018.[25] In 2021 he appeared in Full English (2021) by Bent Architect, winner of the Best Stage Production, 2021 at the Asian Media Awards.[26]

Other credits include: Cymbeline (2008) directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, starring James Norton. Peter Pan (2008) and the Pembroke Players Japan Tour of A Midsummer Night's Dream (2008).[27] Boy With a Suitcase (2010) by Mike Kenny at the Arcola Theatre. Plan D by Hannah Khalil (2010). Brief Encounters Freedom Studios (2015). North Country Directed by Alex Chisholm (2016). Wanted (2016) Leeds Playhouse. This Space Is Occupied (2018) Bent Architect.

Works

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  • Bangla Bantams (2022) – Afternoon Drama, BBC Radio 4. Co-written with Mary Cooper.
  • Aaliyah: After Antigone (2021) Stage play with Freedom Studios. Premiered at Impact Hub Bradford and livestreamed.
  • A Love Story on Leeds Road (2021) An Audio-Documentary for Bradford Producing Hub.
  • Decades: and after we sailed a thousand skies (2021) - Stage and Screen play. Premiered at The Leeds Playhouse for the 50th Anniversary.
  • Lockdown Diaries (2020) – Stage and screen play. Premiered online for Skipton Camerata.
  • Us (Post 23/3) (2020) – Screenplay. Premiered online for Naïve Theatre and supported by Camden People's Theatre.
  • Father's Land in Mother Tongue (2019) – Premiered on BBC Radio 4, Afternoon Drama.
  • On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring (2018) – Stage and Radio play. Premiered at The Leeds Playhouse and BBC Radio Leeds.
  • Breaking Up With Bradford (2017) – Premiered on BBC Radio 4, Afternoon Drama.
  • The Headline Ballads: Whilst the Water Weeps Next to the Water (2016 & 2017) – Premiered on BBC Radio 4.
  • as the cloud takes its last breath (2016) – Audio Installation. Premiered at St. Chad's Chapel, recommissioned for the Durham Book Festival.
  • The Rose and Bulbul (2016 & 2017) – Site Specific play. Premiered at Stockwood Gardens and UK tour.
  • as the cloud takes its last breath (2015) – Audio Monologue. Premiered on BBC Radio 3.
  • The Weather Machine (2015) – Stage play and Installation. Premiered at Stage@Leeds.
  • and it all comes down to this... (2012) – Stage play and Installation. Premiered at Stage@Leeds.
  • if anyone wonders why rocks breakdown (2011) – Audio Installation. Premiered at part of Light Night Leeds.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "My Yorkshire: Bradford-born writer and actor Kamal Kaan". The Yorkshire Post. 30 January 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  2. ^ "The Prolific North Top Scriptwriters 2017". Prolific North. 2017-01-17.
  3. ^ "Clio Barnard's 'Ali & Ava': Watch First Clip From Cannes Directors' Fortnight Selection (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. 2021-09-24.
  4. ^ "Talented Bradford playwright inspired by home city". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  5. ^ "Kamal Kaan". Kitson Press Associates. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  6. ^ "Ummahsonic Catches up with Actor and Writer, Kamal Kaan". Ummah Sonic. 2018.
  7. ^ "Emerging Writers". Bush Theatre. 2016.
  8. ^ "Introducing the 2017 BBC Writersroom Drama Room". BBC. 19 July 2017.
  9. ^ "and it all comes down to this..." David Shearing. 2012.
  10. ^ "Bradford writer's brother was in a coma due to Covid". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  11. ^ "Age of Antigone: Sophocles's arresting tale of the debt we owe the dead". The Guardian. 2021-10-04.
  12. ^ "New Adaptation Of ANTIGONE To Premiere Simultaneously Live And Online". Broadway World. 2021-09-24.
  13. ^ Ward, Marchella (2022-10-29). "An Ancient Play of The Moment". The Times Literary Supplement.
  14. ^ "Aaliyah (After Antigone) Review". The Stage. 2021-10-12.
  15. ^ Sohal, Balraj (2022-12-26). "Kamal Kaan on 'Amma' & Bangladesh Culture in Theatre". DESIblitz. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  16. ^ "Radio 3 announces the winners of Verb New Voices 2015". BBC. 2015-05-05.
  17. ^ "Talented Bradford playwright inspired by home city". Telegraph & Argus. 2017-08-11.
  18. ^ "India in a Day". The Spectator. 2017-08-19.
  19. ^ "Bangla Bantams: Bringing 'inclusivity and diversity' to the game". BBC News. 2019-03-13.
  20. ^ "Playwright Kamal Kaan is now an avid Bantams follower". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  21. ^ "Winter Tales". Northern Broadsides. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  22. ^ "Clio Barnard's 'Ali & Ava': Watch First Clip From Cannes Directors' Fortnight Selection (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. 2021-09-24.
  23. ^ "An interview with writer, Kamal Kaan". On: Yorkshire Magazine. 2021.
  24. ^ "Ali & Ava review – Clio Barnard's pitch-perfect Bradford love story". The Guardian. 2022-03-06.
  25. ^ "The Chef Show Review". The Stage. 2017-01-16.
  26. ^ "Full English Wins Best Stage Production". Asian Media Awards. 2021-11-04.
  27. ^ "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Varsity. 2008-10-12.
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