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Omar El-Khairy

OMAR EL-KHAIRY

  
Nationality:    British
twitter     email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Curtis Brown Group Ltd  represented by Jessica Cooper

Omar El-Khairy is the Leverhulme Associate Playwright at the Bush Theatre and co-founder of the international theatre and film collective Paper Tiger. He is developing a new play A Soldier Dreams of White Tulips as part of Paper Tigers residency as Associate Artists at Ovalhouse, where his first full length play Sour Lips recently premiered. Theatre includes Return to Sender (Orange Tree Theatre), Given the Times (Finborough Theatre), Polling Booth (Theatre503), Eyelids (Unicorn Theatre), Lovestrong (Lyric Hammersmith),Burst (Zoo Venues, Edinburgh Festival), Longitude (The Public Theatre, New York) and The Arc (Arcola Theatre). His short film No Exit is in production with Idioms Film in the West Bank, Palestine, and he is now developing his first feature-length screenplay, Sheikh. Omar holds a PhD in Political Sociology from the LSE.

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below is a list of Omar El-Khairy's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Arc, The         Burst         Chaplain, The: or, a short tale of how we learned to love good Muslims whilst torturing bad ones         Delicate Hearts / Diabolical Minds         Eyelids         Given the Times         Homegrown         Keepers of Infinite Space, The         Kettled Passions         Longitude         Lovestrong         Polling Booth         Return To Sender         Rex         SoundBites         Sour Lips         Writer X

Arc, The

Synopsis:
A grown-up fairytale of love and loyalty set in our world, but not just yet.

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Burst

Synopsis:
Devised piece inspired by the novel Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Zoo Venues, Edinburgh Festival    2010

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Chaplain, The: or, a short tale of how we learned to love good Muslims whilst torturing bad ones

Synopsis:
Kamal, also known to some as Michael, lives in a peculiar state. When people approach him they see only his surroundings, themselves, or figments of their own imagination - indeed, everything and anything except him. But Kamal isn't scared. He's no longer hiding from the world around him. Today, there will be no more cries for help. Loosely inspired by the life of Yusuf Yee, a former United States Army chaplain who ministered to detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, The Chaplain& is not only the story of a man wrongly accused of treason, but also a reaction to an overzealous world - our Catch-22-esque decent into a universe where the line between an all-American patriot and a shadowy enemy becomes near-indistinguishable. It is a blistering and impassioned evocation of the lives of countless millions - those caught in a whirlwind of narratives around the radicalisation of Western Muslims and the dual projects of counter-radicalisation and de-radicalisation.

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Delicate Hearts / Diabolical Minds

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Eyelids

Synopsis:
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Notes:
Part of Tamasha Theatre Companys Small Lives Global Ties project

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Given the Times

Synopsis:
Play about workers who take their CEO hostage

Notes:
part of Vibrant  A Festival of Finborough Playwrights 2011

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Homegrown

Synopsis:
Homegrown was partly based on interviews with people from the Bethnal Green community in London from which three young girls travelled to Syria to join Islamic State in early 2015.

Notes:
the Board of the NYF exercised censorship in banning this performance whilst refusing to give any reasons. Unions Equity and the Writers' Guild of Great Britain have reacted strongly in condeming the cancellation.

1st Produced:
unproduced    2015

Organisations:
National Youth Theatre

1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
political play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  112 NYT members

Further Reference:
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Keepers of Infinite Space, The

Keepers of Infinite Space, The
You've got to learn when to throw your punches - when they least expect it. There's no use flailing in the dark. This is where battles are raged - and wars won.' Saeed is a bookseller in Nablus. His Father Khalil is a property developer. They're just an ordinary family, quietly building a new Palestine. Until one day Saeed is arrested and thrown into gaol. Ashis future disappears, Saeed finds that the answer to his problems may lie in the past, and in the secrets his Father has kept from him. . . Since the Israeli occupation in 1967, Palestine has become a nation of prisons. Up to 40% of the male population have been detained under military orders. Virtually every family has seen at least one relative put behind bars, and entire generations have grown up facing the prospect of the cell. With the release of political prisoners a key part of the current peace process,The Keepers of Infinite Space explores the dynamics of the Israeli prison system to reveal its fraught legacy for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Notes:
by Omar El-Khairy with contributions from Caroline Rooney

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Moving Theatre in association with Global Uncertainties

1st Published:
Oberon Books (2014) >>>    978-1783190768

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama 90 min one act

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

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Kettled Passions

Synopsis:
Part of Lyric Lounge

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
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Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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Longitude

Synopsis:
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Notes:
Part of the Old Vic New Voices T.S. Eliot Exchange

1st Produced:

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Lovestrong

Synopsis:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Polling Booth

Synopsis:
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Notes:
Reaction piece to the play Charming Man by Gabriel Bisset-Smith

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
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Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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Return To Sender

Synopsis:
presents the young girl as the intruder, the others now a couple whom she has overpowered and then leaves with wrists and ankles bound. It seems to be a metaphor for the violence and rebellion of frustrated youth experienced in last year's riots

Notes:
written As A response to St John Hankin's 1908 the Burglar Who Failed, presenting A similar young girl's rebellious spirit taking A very different direction

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Rex

Synopsis:
Reaction piece to the play Breed by Lou Ramsden

Notes:
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1st Produced:

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
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Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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SoundBites

Synopsis:
Short theatrical response to music as part of the Lyric Lounge

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1st Produced:

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
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Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Sour Lips

Sour Lips
I was still living as an Arab Muslim in America. I struggled with coming out to friends and family, and so I decided to come back to Syria. It hasn't been easy. But we are here, just as we are everywhere. DAMASCUS 18:00 - Amina was walking near Fares Al-Khouri Street when three armed men seized her. According to an eyewitness, Amina was bustled into a red Dacia Logan with a bumper sticker of Basel Assad. The men are assumed to be members of the Ba'ath Party militia or one of the security services. Amina's present location is still unknown. Following the story of Amina Arraf, the blogger known as 'A Gay Girl In Damascus', and the events fomented by the media's coverage of her kidnapping, Sour Lips fuses fantasy and non-fiction to create its own speculative narrative.

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
Paper Tiger

1st Published:
Oberon Books >>>    978-1849434768

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Writer X

Synopsis:
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Notes:
Online distributive narrative project commission

1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
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Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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