LONDON: Britain’s only Muslim pantomime is being added to the country’s largest pantomime archive, which spans four centuries of British pantomime history, organizers have said.
The University of Kent’s David Drummond Pantomime Collection is adding “Cinder’Aliyah: The Great Muslim Pantomime,” which is a reworking of the classic fairy-tale “Cinderella,” UK-based humanitarian charity Penny Appeal said.
“The inclusion of ‘Cinder’Aliyah’ into the David Drummond Pantomime Collection is a historic moment, as it is the first Muslim-themed pantomime to be included in the archive,” Penny Appeal said. “It further highlights the increasing diversity of British pantomime and its ability to both entertain and educate.”
The collection will make ‘Cinder’Aliyah’ available for viewing by students, academics and theater practitioners. It is hoped that it will inspire future generations of performers, writers and audiences alike.
The award-winning Muslim pantomime, which is touring across the UK for the second year in a row from Dec. 9 to Jan. 29, was first performed in 2021 and has since been seen by thousands of people across the country.
It tells the tale of a young Pakistani girl trapped and exploited by her wicked stepmother and jealous stepsisters. The show’s proceeds will be raising funds for survivors of the devastating floods that recently hit Pakistan.
Following the tour, items from the show, including costumes and show posters, will be donated to the University of Kent’s Special Collections and Archives — a unique and distinctive collection of items that are preserved and made accessible for the benefit of teaching, scholarship and society.
Beth Astridge, the university archivist, said: “We are delighted to receive this donation from this fantastic pantomime to Kent’s Special Collections and Archives, to preserve it for the future and make it available for research and public enjoyment.”
She added: “Pantomime has been a long-standing research and teaching strength here, and we are lucky to have such incredible collections at our fingertips.”
Astridge also said that “this newest addition will enable us to continue our important work to accurately represent the voices and perspectives of our communities and audiences within our archive collections, allowing us to celebrate cultural diversity and support new research in the history and current performance of pantomime.
“As the recent AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) project ‘Beyond the Binary’ has shown, by working hands-on in the archives, together with diverse communities and practitioners, we continue to open up new understandings of this traditional and ever-changing performance genre.”
Writer and director Abdullah Afzal — best known for starring in BBC’s “Citizen Khan” — said he was grateful and delighted to be a part of the first Muslim-themed pantomime within this historic collection.
“Modern Britain is a beacon of inclusivity and diversity, so it only feels right that we should reflect this within our theater history,” said Afzal. “‘Cinder’Aliyah’ is an incredibly light-hearted yet educational take on the classic fairy tale, and it’s great that this will be recorded for generations to come. It’s a testament to the hard work of our cast and crew that this production is now part of British theater history!”
As per the 2021 census, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in Britain and Muslims now stand at around 3.9 million or 6.5 percent of the population.
