From Margin to Centre

Abstract

The cultural transformations of the twentieth century, particularly those shaped by globalisation, multiculturalism and the evolving politics of racial equality, have increasingly positioned Muslims at the centre of public and policy discourses, even as Muslim communities have contested dominant paradigms, including the secular framing of multiculturalism and the primacy of racialised identity categories. The early twenty-first century, marked by watershed events such as the Rushdie Affair, 9/11, 7/7 and the Iraq War, intensified both societal anxieties and artistic interest surrounding Muslim representation. In response, British theatre has witnessed a notable rise in the commissioning and staging of works by British Muslim playwrights, signalling a shift towards more culturally nuanced and self-articulated depictions of Muslim identities. This article explores how British Muslims negotiate and express their cultural, religious and social identities on stage, and how they are constructed as the West's ‘new others’ in Asif Khan's Combustion (2017) and Ishy Din's Approaching Empty (2019), situating these texts within broader discourses of belonging, otherness and postcolonial critique.