Award-winning playwright's debut play at Slough's Curve

The coming-of-age play, Duck, will be performed at the Curve venue, in Slough, on Saturday, May 10 at 2pm.

The play, written by maatin, is set in the summer of 2005 as England prepares to win the Ashes.

It follows the story of 15-year-old British Indian student Ismail, who is obsessed with cricket.

(Image: The Curve Venue)

The play is about adolescence, the pressures of sporting competition, and finding your identity in an environment that doesn't cater for difference.

Ismail is a star player full of ambition and talent, who sets his sights on immortality by breaking the school batting record and getting his name into Wisden.

However, at the start of the season, new coach Mr Eagles takes a particular dislike to him, for reasons Ismail can’t quite put his finger on.

Playwright maatin said: "I'm thrilled that this exciting new tour will bring new audiences into the seldom-seen perspective of a British Indian, Muslim teenager boy.

"It is my biggest goal to purposefully invite communities that have been excluded – whether deliberately or otherwise – into the theatre, both on and off the stage."

Maatin is a writer, dramaturg, and producer from London, now based in Los Angeles.

He focuses on Muslim storytelling, working across theatre, radio, television, and film.

He trained at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Duck is his debut play and premiered at the Arcola Theatre in London in 2023.

It ran at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024 as a recipient of the Pleasance’s Charlie Hartill Fund.

His play Friday at the Masjid was a winner of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 37 Plays and longlisted for both The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting and Soho Theatre’s Verity Bargate Award 2022.

Theatre credits include Duck (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2024; Arcola Theatre, 2023; Jermyn Street Theatre, 2022), Meatballs (Hampstead Theatre).

Radio credits include Yusuf and the Whale (BBC).

Film credits include Sharia’s Law (short, Apatan Productions).

Tickets are available from the Box Office on 01753 303035 or online.

This event is programmed by Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, as part of the new partnership between Norden Farm and Slough Borough Council to develop the venue at The Curve as a key cultural community hub for Slough.

It is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

Tickets cost £16 or £14 for under 16s.

There is an age guidance of 12 years and above.