Indigo Giant

Leesa Gazi, Dramaturg, Lyricist, Producer
Leesa Gazi has dedicated her career to presenting stories from women's perspectives. She co-founded Komola Collective. Gazi directed the multi-award-winning docu-film Rising Silence, following the lives of wartime rape survivors of the Bangladesh Liberation War. Amazon Crossing published Gazi's acclaimed novel Rourob, titled Good Girls (tr. Shabnam Nadiya) in 2023. Gazi's debut feature, Barir Naam Shahana, recently won awards at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival and BFI LIFF 2023.

Ben Musgrave, Playwright and Co-producer

Ben Musgrave grew up in Britain, Bangladesh, and India.

Pretend You Have Big Buildings won the inaugural Bruntwood Prize and was performed in the main house of the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in July 2007. Ben was subsequently commissioned by the National Theatre. Since then, he has been commissioned and performed many times. Highlights include Breathing Country (2009), for Y Touring, (shortlisted for the Brian Way award for Best New Play for Young People). His Teeth (2011), for Only Connect, was Evening Standard and Time Out Critics’ Choice and was nominated for an Offwestend.com award for the best new play. Crushed Shells and Mud, which was developed on attachment at the NT Studio, opened at the Southwark Playhouse in 2015 and starred Alex Lawther. Indigo Giant, initially commissioned by Tara Arts, was workshopped at the National Theatre Studio in 2017 and produced in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2022 before this UK tour in 2024. He also writes for other media, including Radio and Film. His last radio play, Vital Signs, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2022. He teaches on the MA in Scriptwriting at the University of East Anglia.

Gavin Joseph, Director

Gavin’s theatre credits include Assistant Director for The Glee Club (Out of Joint), The Unfriend (Chichester Festival), and The Way Old Friends Do (Birmingham Rep). As a director, Gavin's credits include Ad Nauseam (Lyric Hammersmith), Madam Interpreter (Stanley Arts), Hello, it’s me (Tamasha), Little Threads (Selladoor), and For One More Day To Live (Peckham Theatre). Gavin has previously worked as an Associate Artist at Company Three, where he was involved with writing and directing new pieces of work in collaboration with young people from Islington. Gavin has worked extensively with young people as a director and facilitator at various theatres including Southwark Playhouse, Wimbledon Civic Theatre Trust, The Kiln, Lyric Hammersmith, and The Old Vic where he has also been an Artist Consultant. Gavin is an alumnus of the Young Vic’s Directors programme, Lyric Ensemble, National Youth Theatre, RADA Youth Company, Soho Sketch lab, and the Hackney Empire’s Writers Room.

Caitlin Abbott, Designer

Caitlin was a Linbury Prize Finalist and an RSC Assistant Designer 2019-2020. Design credits include Houdini’s Greatest Escape (New Old Friends) , Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes (Opera Holland Park, Waterperry Opera Festival), A Single Man (Park Theatre); Time and Tide (Norwich Theatre Royal);  Black, el Payaso (Arcola, Cervantes Theatre); Crimes on Centre Court (New Old Friends, Theatre Royal Bath); The Selfish Giant; Hamelin (TRBTS, The egg)  Autumn Opera Scenes (Guildhall School of Music and Drama); Perspective (National Theatre, New Views), Valentina Star Dreamer (Haste/The Place); The Elephant Man (Bristol Old Vic). 

Sohini Alam, Music and Sound co-designer

Sohini Alam is a British Bangladeshi singer whose musical repertoire includes folk, modern, and traditional Bengali songs. She also composes and has branched out into multi-lingual music in bands, dance, film, and theatre. Sohini is the lead vocalist for the critically acclaimed bands Khiyo, Lokkhi Terra, and In Place of War's GRRRL. She is the Musical Director of the arts company Komola Collective. A third-generation vocalist from a family of famed Bangladeshi singers, Sohini has provided vocals for dancer/choreographer Akram Khan’s DESH, Father, and Until the Lions. She and her Khiyo bandmate Oliver Weeks are music directors of Leesa Gazi's multiple award-winning documentary Rising Silence and the feature film Barir Naam Shahana.

Oliver Weeks, Music and Sound co-designer

Oliver Weeks is a London-based composer, guitarist, and pianist. He studied music at Clare College, Cambridge, and composition with Robin Holloway, followed by a PhD in composition from the Royal Academy of Music, London. His music has been performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Royal Academy Soloists, and the BBC Singers. He has scored several full-length feature and short film soundtracks, including Cat Sticks (Ronny Sen, India 2019) and Barir Naam Shahana (Leesa Gazi, Bangladesh/UK 2023). In 2007, he founded the band Khiyo with Sohini Alam, ARC Music releasing their two albums in 2015 and 2022, respectively.

Nasirul Haque Khokon, Lighting co- designer

Khokon is the principal designer for Creations Unlimited Lighting & Visual Design and has been a lighting designer for over 25 years. His fascination with lighting led him to research the field, experiment with new technologies, and push their boundaries. He uses light as a medium to reveal and accentuate, a way to play with the senses, emotions and reactions. Haque considers the light as a means to embellish an environment or to strengthen perception and a message, maximise contrast and the evocative power of a setting, and develop iconographical and descriptive languages.

Joe Price, Lighting co-designer

Joe studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and is now based in Bristol. He received the 2015 Francis Reid Award for Lighting Design, and his work on A Woman Walks Into A Bank at Theatre503 was nominated for the 2023 Offie Award for Lighting Design. Credits include: My Name Is Rachel Corrie (Young Vic), Outlier (Bristol Old Vic), Petula (National Theatre Wales), The World’s Wife (WNO), Redefining Juliet (Barbican), Wendy, Five Children And It, Rapunzel (The Egg, TRB), Revealed (Tobacco Factory), Heads Will Roll (Told by an Idiot), Heather (Bush Theatre), Daughter of the Forest (Komola), Mrs Dalloway, Carmen, How To Date A Feminist (Arcola Theatre), Fossils (Brits off Broadway NYC).

Prashant Tailor, Assistant Director

Prashant Tailor (he/him/his) is a South-Asian storyteller who aims to change the definition, function, and cultural association of theatre. Keen on working with new writing that champions underrepresented communities, Prashant also carries an artistic flair for revolutionizing classics. His working-class background influences both his cinematic-style of theatre-making and mission to make staged productions competitive against TV series and movies. Training as a director under Young Vic, Tamasha Theatre Company, and Mercury Theatre, Prashant’s recent theatre credits include: (Assistant Director, Watford Palace Theatre) Cinderella by Teresa Burns, (Director, The Nursery Theatre) Don’t Worry About Me But I Worry About You All The Time by Kiran Benawra, and (Director, Birmingham Hippodrome and Theatro Technis) Manfred by Mohamed-Zain Dada.

Pauline Nakirya, Associate Producer

As an actor and writer, Pauline is drawn to stories challenging norms and exploring human complexity. Her producing journey started in theatre, leading a youth group, adapting folktales, and performing solo. Transitioning to film, she joined Komola Collective, Line Producing Barir Naam Shahana, depicting a divorced woman's ostracism, and co-producing I Am Light, reflecting on black British identity post-George Floyd. She was Producer on These Things Ain’t Mine, a dance film unveiling a former gymnast's abuse in British Gymnastics. Her work delves into societal issues, amplifying voices and narratives often overlooked in mainstream media, fostering empathy and understanding.

Ching Ying, Movement director

Taiwanese freelance dance artist is based in London, besides choreography for her creations. She is also a collaborator with other artists in different art forms. She has worked with Akram Khan Company since 2013 until now. Her performance in "Until the Lions" won the Outstanding Female Performance (Modern) at the 2016 National Dance Awards (UK). She is also an Akram Khan Company rehearsal director and company repertoire workshop teacher. In 2020, she started working with James Thierrée -Compagnie de Hanneton to create "Mo's" and "ROOM". Her solo choreography piece "Vulture", made in 2018, has been performed in Europe and Taiwan. It has also been selected as one of twenty pieces in Aerowave 2023.

Eddie Latter, Stage Manager

Eddie has spent circa 30 years in the industry, focussing on Community and Young People’s theatre, mostly as a Director and Facilitator. After an eight-year period as the Artistic Director of an inclusive theatre company, Haringey Shed, he decided that he would like to develop within another sector of the industry, namely the more technical and welfare aspect of productions.

To this end, he has begun to work as a Touring Production Manager and Company Manager and recently returned from Frankfurt, where he was the Deputy Stage Manager for the English Theatre Frankfurt. He is excited about joining Komola and learning about a new story.

Suman Bhucher, Marketing Manager

Suman Bhucher is a cultural multipreneur and works as a producer, curator and promoter in the theatre and broadcast sectors. She has contributed significantly to the cultural landscape of UK, adding value to any project she is involved with in a quest to amplify the voices of artists of colour, enabling them to tell their own stories with agency, and shape the discourse around how they are presented and to whom. Suman is delighted to be working with Komola Collective. for more information visit: www.bhucharboulevard.com

Annie Zaidi
Annie Zaidi was placed in this production as a research scholar. She is a writer and a PhD student (Creative Writing) at Durham University. Her published works include Bread, Cement, Cactus: A memoir of belonging and dislocation, Prelude to a Riot, Gulab, and Known Turf: Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales. She is also the editor of Unbound: 2000 Years of Indian Women's Writing. She was awarded the Nine Dots Prize in 2019 for innovative thinking and The Hindu Playwright Award in 2018 for her play, Untitled 1.

Aranyo Aarjan, Social Media

Aranyo Aarjan is a London-based writer, climate change activist and bartender. His work has been published by Verso Books, Jacobin and Red Pepper magazine.

Diljohn Singh – Sadhu

Diljohn recently finished filming a lead role in the feature film Flight into Fear and appears in the new Matthew Vaughn movie Argylle to be released in Spring 2024. Other screenwork includes Rickshaw, Great Britain, Boiling Point with Stephen Graham, Agatha Raisin: The Walkers of Dembley, and several Bollywood features, including Jawaani Jaaneman and Shiddat. On stage, Diljohn appeared in Hedda Gabler at the Maltings Theatre, St Albans, and The P Word (Vienna Theatre Project).

Amy Tara – Kshetromani / Rupa

Amy has recently graduated from The Arden School of Theatre and is really excited to be working on her first production with Komola Collective on Indigo Giant. Amy's Theatre credits include; Lumi in The Snow Queen, Matilda in The Visit, Christa in 12 Days of Christa, Amara in Out of Time, Out of Mind (an original play), Mollie in Young Love, and Sianna in Vignettes. On screen, Amy has had the privilege of playing Ivy in One Time Deal with the BFI Film Academy, and you can also look forward to seeing Amy in a new feature film coming this year as Chloe in Assassins Guild on Amazon Prime.

Chirague Amarchande – Gopi / Supervisor

Chirague Amarchande is a former professional dancer and choreographer turned actor. He’s experienced across TV, movies, commercials, stage, and other mediums, leading him to work with Akram Khan, Mavin Khoo, Jay Sean, Gucci, Edgar Wright, and others. Outside of performing, he enjoys exploring cuisines and places, reading, cooking, and socializing. He loves the theatre and is delighted to be part of Indigo Giant.

Adi Roy Bhattacharya – The Presence

Adi Roy Bhattacharya (he/him) is an actor based in London. His recent credits include: The Tempest (CSSD), Blood Wedding (CSSD), WOMAN.LIFE.FREEDOM (Camden Fringe’23), The Trap: India’s Deadliest Scam (BBC), Harmonium Melodies (Brady Arts Centre). Training: The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Subika Anwar-Khan – Rashida / Mina / Nabina

Subika Anwar-Khan is a Writer and Actor who has appeared in various plays such as Hear Me Now (Theatre503), Mephisto (A Rhapsody) (Gate Theatre), Julie (National Theatre), 60 Miles by Road or Rail (Royal and Derngate) and Ok Tata Bye Bye (Curve theatre). She has also appeared in TV shows Eastenders (BBC), Goldie’s Oldies (Nickelodeon), and Bafta's winning feature film After Love (BFI).

As a Writer, Subika was a part of The Royal Court and Hampstead Theatre’s writing programmes. She has developed scripts with Paines Plough, Curve Theatre, Tamasha, Belgrade Theatre, Birmingham Rep, The Roundhouse, Nabokov and Drywrite. Her plays have been produced by Kali Theatre (**** The Independent Stateless) and the Vault Festival (**** Exeunt Magazine Princess Suffragette). She was the Writer and Performer of the solo show Divided, commissioned by Camden People’s Theatre and Echo, her second solo show developed with Tara Theatre. Subika is published in Hear Me Now Vol.2 and was a contributing writer for the audio drama Beneath Our Feet (Spotify, Apple podcast).

Thomas King – Rose / Jeremy

Tom graduated from Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance in 2017. Since then, he has performed a variety of roles in Children's, Actor-Musician and Immersive shows. His most recent credits include: Secret Cinema presents Wishmas playing the role of ‘Wishkeeper/Father Christmas’, ‘FIT the Musical, playing drums in the band and Secret Cinema presents Grease playing the role of Bobby the Prank Master’ and ‘Billy the Kid’ playing drums in the band.