image c/o Sabrina Merolla
In September 2025, I was Artist-in-residence at the OSO Theatre in Barnes. During the residency, I worked on the first iteration of Table Reads, an experimental public participation project I designed to bring together a group of strangers weekly to performatively read the same text. For eight weeks, I was given rehearsal space at the theatre, one morning a week, and an evening slot to present my outcomes. During this period, I recruited a cast of local actors and nonactors who committed to meeting weekly for six weeks, organised each session as a structured rehearsal with warm-up and character development exercises, prepared script notes and further reading on the themes of the play, and organised refreshments.
Together we read Ya Tali'al-Shagarah, a play written in Arabic by Egyptian writer Tawfiq al-Hakim (1898-1987), translated into English as The Tree Climber in 1966 by Denys Johnson-Davies. It is al-Hakim’s only absurdist play, which also incorporates customs and folklore of Muslim culture and Arab identity, about a detective, a lizard, a time-travelling dervish, and a magical tree, all turn the quiet life of a married couple upside down.
At each weekly session, I added new elements–props, lighting, gestures, and a soundscape which I designed.
At the end of the residency, we presented a script-in-hand, performative table reading to a public audience.
