Sisters 360

Asif Khan wrote Sisters 360 with his own young children in mind and the lack of representation in theatre, particularly in children’s theatre. This is a gap which still needs to be filled to accurately reflect the UK’s diversity and to help promote understanding and tolerance between communities and for children from minority backgrounds to see themselves represented.

“As a parent you worry about the challenges our children face, which we ourselves faced when we were kids. One of which I only fully understood as an adult, was the effects of never seeing myself represented. All the ‘cool’ people on television, sport, music, films, plays, never included anyone who looked like me. This led me to believe that being ‘brown’ and being a ‘Muslim’ was not cool. I felt embarrassed and ashamed about my background, with low self-confidence I just desperately wanted to fit in. This is something I never want my kids to feel. Because there is a lack of stories for children involving British Muslim characters, I thought - why not write some myself?”

Sisters 360 is both entertaining and with important themes and is a continuation of the work AIK & Turtle Key Arts have previously, successfully done. We look forward to touring the show to further expand its reach and connection with communities around the UK and establish our work as a pivotal contribution to UK theatre.

The story is inspired by 3 real life sisters from Hull known as the “hijabi sisters”. Through their passion for skateboarding (inspired by Olympic Medalist Sky Brown) they have broken all kinds of stereotypes about Muslim girls, particularly hijab wearing girls. We discovered them through a BBC article and got in touch with their mother, who agreed to speak to playwright Asif Khan for an interview. This became the inspiration for Sisters 360.

This play will inspire not only Muslim girls, but many young people, to take up skateboarding (or any sport), to dream big, and then go for those big dreams – and inspire a new generation of young theatre goers from all backgrounds, boys & girls, but particularly those from a Muslim background, as well as the South Asian and Black community.

This play will help build bridges between different communities in the UK, promote understanding and tolerance, break negative stereotypes, promote the idea of being proud of both your Britishness and Muslimness, particularly when the levels of Islamophobia have increased.

The tension imposed upon the Sisters as a result of their parents’ divorce will bring about discussions about the challenges children face when dealing with similar situations.