Out of the Margins

“What form can something take without water?”
British Egyptian Sabrina Mahfouz always loved the mix of places and rivers she grew up around – Thames, Tees, Nile, Essequibo. But when she applied to be a spy, she realised that in Britain an identity not easily defined can be considered a risk. 

So now she’s on her own intelligence mission – to explore how the water of the Middle East has enabled British power through the ages and how Britain still effects landscapes, lives and legacies in the region today. 

Premiering in 2019, this landmark play from poet, playwright, lyricist and performer Sabrina Mahfouz fused the personal and political in a remarkable theatrical odyssey, and her annotated first edition of it is a joy to behold: full of striking colour, wonky lines, multiple inks and beautiful insights into the theatre and poetry making process. 

In the cast list - one of the most wonderfully, colourfully decorated pages of the auction - Sabrina points to Rafeef Ziadeh who contributed poetry to the play. Sabrina's note reads "Please google Rafeef!" So we encourage everyone to do so! 

There's so much to note, so get your hands on it to dive deeper!, but the note at the end brings tears to our eyes: after the final speech invites the audience to join the stage for a "little rave" - those who agree that though everything that surrounds us is drenched in empire, that doesn't mean we have to operate by those rules - the playwright realises through her annotating process that "there's no record of it - no film, no audio, I can't even remember the details, but the feeling was always one of having fulfilled an intention with integrity, which is about as euphoric as life gets (for me anyway!)." We hope this annotated play is a record, at least, and it's certainly been euphorically done by a playwright and poet who's full of integrity. 

Writer Sabrina Mahfouz has been called ‘Theatrical dynamite’ by The Independent and ‘[one of] our most interesting playwrights’ by Lyn Gardner in The Guardian.