SALAAM at VAULT Festival 2019

“they say angels come to earth at this time
hovering above our houses
and I think
we glow for them
like candles
in the dark”

London. 2017. The first night of Ramadan. Mother and daughter prepare to break the fast. Quiet, alone, and at peace, they prepare for a night of contemplation. A crash. Glass shatters. Everything is changed.

‘SALAAM’ is a lyrical, experimental investigation into what it means to be Muslim in London today. Linking Islamist terror attacks and the resulting spike of Islamophobia, ‘SALAAM’ uses the lens of two Muslim women to explore mental health issues and the nature of gendered racial abuse.

Debuting at the prestigious VAULT Festival 2019, Sara Aniqah Malik has used her own experience and interviews conducted with Muslim women to create an authentic play that reclaims the voices of Muslim women and posits it at the centre. It seeks to speak the language of London today and asks us how to make a better London of tomorrow.