I Wanna Be Yours

by Zia Ahmed

Ella is from Yorkshire. Haseeb is from London. They order a pizza. House red for Ella. Hot chocolate for Haseeb. People and playlists. Christmas and Eid. Travelcards and Megabuses. London to Leeds. Love is more than just a game for two. Especially when there's an elephant in the room. Zia Ahmed's I Wanna Be Yours is a tender, funny, lyrical debut play about finding love and holding onto it with everything you've got. It premiered on tour of the UK in 2019, in a co-production between Paines Plough and Tamasha, including a run at the Bush Theatre, London.

Genres: Plays

180 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 17, 2019

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

The script is rather difficult to parse, in that it's structured like slam poetry (as that is the format for which the playwright is most known), and I wasn't always clear exactly what is happening, or what some of the more arcane words and speeches meant. About half of the play is also direct address to the audience, which is undoubtedly my least favorite form of drama. And although the topic is timely, Ahmed doesn't bring much that is fresh or new to the problem of lovers from different ethnic backgrounds.

However, I wish I had been able to see the premiere production, primarily because it incorporated a third person signing the dialogue in BSL into the onstage action, which IS something innovative:

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/201...

[Meehad Shahriyar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first watched this, at the theatre, before getting the script. Very nicely put together - quite a sad ending.

[isggobel · Rating 2 out of 5]

i just didn’t rate ella at all. why does she make everything about herself bro??? loved the elephant in the room metaphor and the ending was heartbreaking. bit difficult to read but made so much more sense live.