Star of United 93, The Kite Runner and The Crown, Khalid Abdalla, in his writing debut, has created an intricate and playful solo show, inspired by his involvement in the Egyptian revolution of 2011, and his experiences of the counter-revolution that followed. Commissioned and produced by Fuel, Nowhere will premiere at Battersea Arts Centre, followed by HOME, Manchester. It is directed by Omar Elerian (Misty, NASSIM and ECHO: Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen at the Royal Court this July as part of LIFT) and performed by Abdalla, who will take audiences on a surprising journey into his own history, set against a cartography of seismic world events.
From the histories of colonialism and decolonisation; friendship and loss; protests and uprising against regimes across the world; to the violence in Gaza following the events of 7 October 2023, Khalid brings together the personal and the political in an act of anti-biography that asks how we got here and how we find agency amidst the mazes of history.
Khalid Abdalla said: “When I had my first conversation about Nowhere, Egypt, where I was living, was in the heart of a counter-revolution, with a military dictatorship purging another future. Back in London I started writing weeks after George Floyd’s murder, while the world was in lockdown. And now, as we approach opening, we live in a world in which for people in Gaza, nowhere is safe, and we live in the shadow of that everywhere.
If you want to live another future now, where can you be? And how do you find it in yourself?
Nowhere is my attempt to respond to our world of intersecting crises, tracking where they live inside me, while searching for a shared space in which to explore how we got here, and what we have to reckon with to reach beyond it.
I could not have dreamed of a better creative team to accompany me on the journey of developing this project into the theatrical experience I hope it will be. Theatre is the home through which we encounter each other in a world increasingly atomised. I am beyond excited to bring Nowhere to audiences and find out where we take each other through its life onstage.”
Omar Elerian, Director: “I am really excited to be working with Khalid, Fuel and an extraordinary creative team on this timely, profound and deeply personal show, interrogating themes that are very close to my heart both as an artist and as an individual confronting the complex questions around identity and belonging in an increasingly polarized world.”
Khalid Abdalla is an actor, producer, writer and filmmaker. Nowhere is his first play. He is known most notably for his performances in The Crown as Dodi Fayed, Marc Forster’s The Kite Runner, and in the Paul Greengrass features United 93 and Green Zone. He produced and starred in the Egyptian feature In the Last Days of the City, directed by Tamer El Said, and in Tala Hadid’s The Narrow Frame of Midnight, and appears in Jehane Noujaim’s Oscar nominated documentary about the 2011 Egyptian revolution The Square. He has recently completed filming on his next role in a remake of The Day of the Jackal; and is currently in rehearsals for Mnemonic with Complicité at The National Theatre. Khalid is a founding member of three cultural initiatives in Cairo – Cimatheque, Zero Production and Mosireen. He is also an Honorary Fellow of Queens’ College Cambridge. Brought up in the UK to Egyptian parents, Cairo and London are his two cities.
Tickets for the run at Battersea Arts Centre will go on sale on 24 June at 10am and for HOME, Manchester are on sale now. For further information and to purchase tickets please visit www.fueltheatre.com
Nowhere is commissioned and produced by Fuel. Supported by Arts Council England and CVC.
