What shows or projects have you done with ETT?
Othello
Finish the sentence: Touring is important because…
…it is part of the human impulse to share stories. It is the way of the griots and troubadours who preserved the stories of the ancestors, who cross-pollinated between traditions and who believed in the power of the imagination. Touring is that activity which breaks the routine and brings unexpected magic and wonder and joy in to our communities.
Where is home for you?
New Haven, CT (but London is my spiritual home)
Where is your home away from home?
An exquisite cup of coffee served in a beautiful cafe where I can watch people go about their day – extraordinary human beings doing ordinary things. Wherever I travel, I am blessed to always find a place like this.
How did you bring home with you on tour?
Friendship, comaraderie and joy
Touring is that activity which breaks the routine and brings unexpected magic and wonder and joy in to our communities.
I find myself returning again and again to the words of James Baldwin. He is a writer of his times for all times. His wisdom is of the incendiary sort, it forces you to places of discomfort and to truth-facing that is ultimately grounded in radical love.
Which city was your favourite to visit on tour with ETT?
Bristol
What gem did you discover on tour with ETT?
The Kitchen at Wilton’s Music Hall in my beloved East London serves up scrumptious, straightforward, moreish grub!
What are your touring essentials?
A good book, some excellent coffee beans and the equipment needed to enjoy a pourover on the road!
Which artist(s) do you most admire and why?
I find myself returning again and again to the words of James Baldwin. He is a writer of his times for all times. His wisdom is of the incendiary sort, it forces you to places of discomfort and to truth-facing that is ultimately grounded in radical love.
What music inspires you?
The Music of Mali – the heart is healed, the soul is freed, the feet dance to the music of masters like Toumane Diabate, Khaira Arby, Ali Farka Toure and Fatoumata Diawara
What piece of writing or quote inspires you?
The Autobiography of Malcom X
What, for you, makes a good piece of art?
Art that sticks to you, stays with you, keeps you awake at night, nudges you, make you uncomfortable, forces you to return to it for answers and solace.
What have been your career highlights so far?
The 25 years I spent working alongside my late friend and mentor Fuad Nahdi represent a lifetime of learning and creativity. ETT’s Othello has been one of the projects I am most proud of!
If you were cast away on a desert island, which 5 plays would you take with you and why?
An Enemy of the People, Henrik Ibsen; Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekhov; The Djinns Of Eidgah, Abhishek Majumdar; Blues for Mr. Charlie, James Baldwin; Raisin the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
Art that sticks to you, stays with you, keeps you awake at night, nudges you, make you uncomfortable, forces you to return to it for answers and solace.
Art cannot be fettered by space and place, it needs to breathe. Tour, engage, travel, challenge your work to be relevant beyond spaces of safety and comfort. Allow you and others to be truly excited by your art.
Please can you tell us what you would say to emerging artists to encourage them to take their work on the road or join an ETT tour?
Art cannot be fettered by space and place, it needs to breathe. Tour, engage, travel, challenge your work to be relevant beyond spaces of safety and comfort. Allow you and others to be truly excited by your art.
Window or aisle seat?
Aisle
Favourite way to travel?
Plane
If you could have any superpower, which would you choose?
Heal a broken heart.
Our industry is currently experiencing an incredibly challenging time. Do you have any recommendations for others of how to stay hopeful and creative during this time?
I love the work that these folks do, check them out – they are a repository of hope and action – https://c4aa.org/. I turn often to the work of john a. powell and the Othering & Belonging Institute in Berkeley, California – check them out at: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/
Abdul-Rehman Malik’s biog:
Abdul-Rehman Malik is an award-winning journalist, educator and cultural organizer. He is Lecturer and Associate Research Scholar at the Yale Divinity School. He also serves at the Program Coordinator at Yale University’s Council on Middle East Studies and is responsible for developing curricula and partnerships with public schools to promote better cultural, language and religious literacy about the Middle East to educators and students alike.
Abdul-Rehman also serves as Director of the Muslim Leadership Lab, an innovative student leadership program being incubated at the Dwight Hall Center of Social Justice at Yale. He remains programs manager for the Radical Middle Way, which offers powerful, faith-inspired guidance and tools to enable change, combat exclusion and violence and promote social justice for all.
His work has spanned the UK, United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sudan, Mali, Morocco, Singapore, Canada and Malaysia. Until 2018 regularly presented the popular Pause for Thought segment on BBC Radio 2 and Something Understood on BBC Radio 4.
In conjunction with The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Abdul-Rehman will be launching and hosting a new podcast in 2020 entitled “This Being Human”, which will explore kaleidoscope of contemporary Muslim experience and identity. He was the Creative Advisor to the ETT’s acclaimed production of Othello.
