‘An exhibit for the people.’
A Muslim woman has been archived in a museum in the not-too-distant future, to speak to visitors about her relationship with the cloth. What happens to her in a society obsessed with policing the female body, amidst the rise of Islamophobia, UK state violence, and the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy?
Evoking the dystopian feel of A Handmaid’s Tale and George Orwell’s 1984, Cuts of the Cloth is a disturbing portrayal of a Muslim woman caught in the net of the ‘war on terror’.
Cuts of the Cloth is a new piece of work commissioned by HOME Arts Centre in Manchester especially for Push Festival 2019
Performer & Writer: Hafsah Aneela Bashir
Co-creator & Director: Nikki Mailer
Video Production, Live Projection and Sound Design : Kooj Chuhan
Feedback from our performance at HOME:
“There’s a lot here… Captures the dystopian mood of the moment.” – The Guardian
“A politically-charged, passionate, and topical performance… [Hafsah Aneela] Bashir’s honesty, boldness, and passion in her performance was just beautiful.” – Reviewer Number 9
★★★★ “There is a lot resting on the shoulders of one performer, but [Hafsah Aneela] Bashir maintains everyone’s attention throughout… It would be worth a larger team developing Cuts of the Cloth, and it would be worth it because this was some incredibly important work from Bashir and very smart commissioning from HOME for Push Festival 2019.” – North West End
“A profoundly powerful, thought-provoking piece about the rise, and possible consequences, of Islamophobia… In the times we live in, its important message cannot be understated.” – The Play’s The Thing
“Hafsah Bashir is a star in the making, her poetic delivery at times is utterly captivating… Blooming brilliant.” – Caught in the Act
“It’s a small show but it holds itself with a confident heft of its own… Its polemic is potent.” – Exeunt
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