The P Word returns and has become ‘even more relevant’
The Olivier-winning play about a queer South Asian love story in the context of the UK’s asylum system is showing at London’s Bush Theatre
Three years after its premiere, The P Word, the acclaimed romantic comedy about two queer South Asian men, has returned to the Bush Theatre in London with its original cast. Yet, in some ways, the play’s writer and actor Waleed Akhtar had hoped the story would feel outdated by now.
“There was such an appetite to bring it back at this time because it seems these issues just haven’t gone away,” says Akhtar. “I had a naive hope that these policies towards queer asylum seekers would change and these issues wouldn’t have been in the zeitgeist so much. But it’s been a horror show watching the last three-and-a-half years, and the play has become even more relevant.”
The P Word, which won an Olivier Award in 2023, follows the relationship between Zafar, played by Esh Alladi, an asylum seeker who has fled persecution in Pakistan, and Akhtar’s Billy, a promiscuous British-Pakistani man who has grown up in London.
“It’s about love triumphing over adversity and how two people with so much in common can be so different, fall in love and laugh in the face of huge challenges,” says Alladi.
Zafar and Billy’s love story unfolds across the backdrop of the British asylum system. The play largely addresses the emotional distress asylum seekers experience when trying to obtain refugee status in the UK, reflecting the effect of successive governments’ policies to cut migration.
Akhtar hopes the play can help humanise the experiences of refugees and shift public consciousness. “Too often these people have been demonised and scapegoated,” he says. “Hopefully this is us taking back that narrative and ideally it will motivate people to go out and change the world around them.
“Sadly, the experience of asylum seekers and what they go through has not gotten better,” Alladi adds. “With this play, we have the opportunity to give a much more in-depth, nuanced emotional experience and people can really get into the heart and mind of someone who is actually experiencing something like this. It puts a human face on things that are usually just news stories.”
As a Hindu actor playing a Muslim character, Alladi says he “really wanted to make sure anything related to Islam was accurately and sensitively done. I was researching and reading a lot of biographies from other queer Pakistanis or Muslims.”
When writing the play, Akhtar says he was also keen to challenge misconceptions about the Muslim community, as well as challenge prejudices within the queer community. “On the issue of homosexuality, there isn’t one Muslim opinion because the community doesn’t exist in that way. It isn’t a monolith and there are lots of varying opinions,” he says.
“In the same way, the queer community isn’t a utopia. It has its pluses and its minuses, and racism and misogyny exist in those places too. We don’t see that often enough.”
Despite the heavy themes, Akhtar believes the play will give audiences “a gamut of emotions.
“I like to think of my style as, I’ll lure you in with some jokes because I’m a frustrated stand-up, and then I’ll hit you with some politics,” he says.
Alladi agrees. “It’s a mix of crying and laughing, and leaving feeling very warm and whole.”
The P Word is on at Bush Theatre, London until 27 June.
