Posted: 25 October 2022
Introducing the Cast and Company of HAKAWATIS
Tamasha and Shakespeare’s Globe are delighted to announce the cast and company for the premiere of our co-production HAKAWATIS: WOMEN OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS by Hannah Khalil, directed by Pooja Ghai.
Houda Echouafni will play Wadiha the Dancer
Houda trained with Margie Haber in Los Angeles, The London Centre of Theatre Studies with David Harris and at Method Acting Studio under Sam Runbellow. Theatre credits include: A Museum in Bhagdad, King John (Royal Shakespeare Company), One Thousand and One Nights (The Royal Lyceum Theatre), Dialogues from Babel (The Traverse), Blackout (SUMMERHALL), The Things I Would Tell You (The Traverse), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Duchess of Malfi, Three Sister’s (The Actor’s Company), Habibty Driver (The Octagon), The Boy with Two Hearts (National Theatre). Television credits include: Jesus: His Life (History Channel), Doctors (BBC), Green Wing (Channel 4), Hotel Babylon (ITV), Sea of Souls (BBC), The Grid (Fox Network), Waking the Dead (BBC). Film credits include: I Saved My Bellydancer, Dirty War, Piercing Brightness, Leviathan.
Alaa Habib will play Fatah the Young
Theatre credits include: Frozen, The Theban Trilogy, The Provoked Wife, Cymbeline, Kefiyeh, Made in China, Close Quarters, King Lear (RADA), Veils (Theatre 40), Veils (Road Theatre). Film credits include: Argyle (David Reid, Adam Bohling), American Nightmares (Patriot Pictures). Television credits include: High-End Homeless (non-TX Pilot) (Channel 4), The Power (Sister Pictures/Amazon), The Last Ship (Warner Brothers), NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS).
Laura Hanna will play Zuya the Warrior
Laura trained at LAMDA, has recently performed in Once Upon A Time In Nazi Occupied Tunisia at the Almeida. Other theatre credits include: Living Newspaper Edition 5 (Royal Court Theatre), Signal Fires (Fuel Theatre), Leave A Message – Isolated But Open Monologues Online (Papatango), Karaokay (Bunker Theatre), A History Of Water In The Middle East (Royal Court Theatre), Give A Man A Bible (Pint Sized/The Bunker Theatre), Rest Upon The Wind (Matar Ventures), The Sweethearts (The Finborough Theatre/Raising Dark), Palindrome (Miniaturists), A Bright Room Called Day (Southwark Playhouse), Foreplay (King’s Head Theatre), Red Peppers/Still Life (Folie a deux/Old Red Lion), Lean (Strip Theatre/Tristan Bates Theatre), The Warden (Traffic of the Stage), Much Ado About Nothing (Serendipity Productions), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (ASC Random/The Chelsea Theatre), Beasts And Beauties (The Hampstead Theatre).
Nadi Kemp-Sayfi will play Akila the Writer
Previous work for Shakespeare’s Globe includes The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet (2022), Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2021). Theatre credits include The Whip, A Museum in Baghdad, King John (RSC), War with the Newts (Knaïve Theatre), Wake, Mittwoch Aus Licht, Life is a Dream (Birmingham Opera Company), 101 Dalmatians, Between The Two, Three Wheels on the Wagon, The Witches’ Promise, Under The Stars (Birmingham Rep), Hijabi Monologues (The Bush Theatre), Phone Home (Upstart Theatre & Creative Europe), Save our School Dinners… Jamie! (Belgrade Theatre Coventry & Old Rep), Burning Books, She (Arena Theatre). Radio credits include The Archers (BBC) and Words and Music (BBC).
Roann McCloskey will play Naha the Wise
Roann studied at The University of Kent & Sorbonne Nouvelle. This is her first time working with Shakespeare’s Globe. Theatre credits include: NewsRevue (Canal Cafe Theatre), Bayside the Musical (The Other Palace), My Father The Tantric Masseur (Soho Theatre/Edinburgh Fringe ’19/CCA Glasgow/Lawrence Bately Theatre), Who Murdered My Cat? (Arcola Theatre/Edinburgh Fringe ’22). Immersive and site-specific work with Dank Parish and Specifiq.
THE CREATIVE TEAM
Maariyah Sharjil – Assistant Designer
Layla Madanat – Assistant Director
Matt Haskins – Candle Consultant
Kareem Samara – Composer
Sabia Smith – Costume Supervisor
Rosa Maggiora – Designer
Pooja Ghai – Director
Glynn MacDonald – Globe Associate, Movement
Tess Dignan – Head of Voice
Jess Tucker Boyd – Movement Director & Intimacy Director
Katherine Heath – Seasonal Voice Coach
Hannah Khalil – Writer