Firstly, tell us your favourite thing about west London…
We love the hustle and bustle of Soho, where we’ve seen many shows and attended many auditions! We also have very fond memories of Chiswick, home of the Tabard Theatre, where we produced our first play, Bruises, in the summer of 2015.
Tell us a bit about your company, Woven Voices, and how it started…
We set up Woven Voices with our amazing associate producer, Ben Weaver-Hincks, to produce that very play, so technically it all began in West London! From the start, our mission has been to weave together native and migrant voices in order to champion cross-cultural work. Since then, we have produced several plays and short films as well as a podcast called Migreatives.
You’ve recently announced the Woven Voices Prize 2025, in collaboration The Gate, Notting Hill.
‘The aim of the prize is to celebrate and platform migrant writers, an underrepresented demographic on UK theatre stages. Around 14% of the UK population and 37% of London’s population were born outside the UK. The Woven Voices Prize celebrates this rich source of creativity. It is a proclamation of a global, multicultural Britain, and it opposes the ‘Little England’ mentality of isolationism.’
What inspired you to set it up?
Our podcast Migreatives, which we launched in 2021 during the pandemic, is what inspired the idea for the competition. Speaking to fellow first-generation migrants for the podcast, we realised just how much shared experience there is between us in terms of the barriers and biases we face as foreign creatives trying to pave a career in the UK, both on and off stage. We wanted to create more opportunity for first-generation migrant writers to showcase their work and, with their stories, bring more opportunity for other first-generation migrant creatives. After two successful editions with Jermyn Street Theatre, we are very excited to be partnering with the Gate for the prize’s third iteration and to be receiving support from Arts Council England for the first time.
Why is it so important to the London theatre world to have initiatives like these?
It is hugely important because while over 40% of London’s population was born outside the UK, there is close to no representation of this demographic on stage. True diversity includes cultural and national identity. We need a greater diversity of stories on our stages, to reflect the breadth of lived experience that exists in London and in the UK at large. We believe this will deeply enrich the city’s theatrical landscape as well as mentalities, especially at a time when the presence and contributions of migrants are being increasingly politicised and undermined.
What’s the judging process like for something like this?
Submissions go through a rigorous judging process. All play submissions are read blind by a minimum of two paid readers, one of whom is guaranteed to be a first-generation migrant artist themselves. All readers take part in anti-bias training, developed in previous years by Global Voices Theatre.
Shortlisted scripts are then read blind by a panel of expert judges, most of whom identify as coming from migrant backgrounds. The judging panel selects one winning play and up to three runners-up.
Tell us about a play you saw or read that changed your perspective on something important…
Nadia: The works of Annie Ernaux have had a deep impact on me in recent years and have certainly deepened my understanding of what feminist writing should entail. I was lucky to catch The Years at the Harold Pinter Theatre this year. While I wish at least one of the cast members had been French, I thought it was an extremely powerful and well-crafted stage adaptation of a mammoth piece of memoir.
Zachary: I loved White Pearl by Anchuli Felicia King, which I read and saw at the Royal Court Theatre. The play really highlighted to me how unaware many of us westerners are of the stark cultural differences and conflicts that exist between Asian countries, and did so with great humour. Later, I was very lucky to be part of its US premiere at the Studio Theatre in Washington DC.
You mention that you’re creators in your own right as well! What has been your favourite project so far?
It’s difficult to pick a favourite as they have all taught us something and made us grow as creatives in different ways, but perhaps the most challenging one was taking Nadia’s second stage play, Subject Matter, to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019. It was inspired by several female figures in her life, including her mother, so it felt very personal, and we worried it would come across as too foreign in tone to a British audience, and thereby alienating. The venue we were in was very small and not particularly known, and we didn’t have much reach in terms of promotion. The fact that it won a Fringe First Award shows there is an appetite for and appreciation of cross-cultural work, and it felt very affirming.
Describe your perfect day out in west London…
Nadia: A bit of shopping – Carnaby Street is a favourite – followed by dinner at Busaba on Wardour Street and a comedy show at the Soho Theatre.
Zachary: A walk through Kensington Gardens, browsing through The Old Cinema in Chiswick, and watching a play at the Lyric Theatre, the Riverside Studios, or the Royal Court Theatre!
You’re a husband and wife team! How do you juggle running a company together and running a family?
Simply by juggling, with lots of balls dropped and picked back up along the way! The financially fortunate position we’re in has allowed us to produce work, which includes contributing to the cost of running the Woven Voices Prize, as well as find a home and start a family. We want to be transparent about the privilege that has helped us persevere in a career which many have no choice but to give up on, especially when faced with systemic barriers. We want to help lessen those barriers via both the work we make and the work we support.
Being a husband and wife team certainly has its challenges, and with every project we learn how to communicate better, and support each other through our strengths and weaknesses, all the more so now that we have a one-year-old who takes up a lot of our time and energy!
