Chai and Chat: I Am The Ghost of Qandeel Baloch

This special edition of Chai and Chat will be hosted by award-winning writer and theatremaker Guleraana Mir and director and dramaturg Beth Kapila.

Guleraana will be presenting new sections of her play, I Am The Ghost of Qandeel Baloch, inviting the audience to reflect on how we use theatre to talk about themes such as violence against women and girls.

I Am The Ghost of Qandeel Baloch

Minni, a British (South Asian) social worker is trying to write a play about Qandeel Baloch, the Pakistani celebrity murdered by her brother in an ‘honour killing’ in 2016.

What feels like a straightforward task becomes increasingly complicated as she discovers parallels between Qandeel’s story and those of the women she works with at her day job. As we see Minni in action at a fundraiser to commemorate The International Day of Remembrance of Lost Women, we learn that her relationship with one of the service users is much more entangled than it should be.

Unable to cope with the mounting pressure Minni conjures the ghost of Qandeel Baloch to help, but that further blurs the line between reality and her writing. Chaos ensues.

Writer: Guleraana Mir, Director: Beth Kapila, Producer: Samia Djill

To learn more about the true story of Qandeel Baloch, here are some articles that were used in researching the play:

A Year Later, Qandeel Baloch Is Remembered By The Women Who Knew Her Best

‘Honour’ killing may not be in your culture, but the problem belongs to us all

A Quote from Writer Guleraana Mir:

I Am The Ghost Of Qandeel Baloch explores how men hate women the world over; the UK is rife with gendered violence but we tend to call it by a different name. Reflecting on Baroness Warsi’s very pertinent question: why do men bask in ‘honour’ and women bear the burden of ‘shame’? the play aims to challenge the audience’s perceptions of what honour violence is, where it comes from, and what a play about honour violence might look like. Throughout its development and final production we hope to create spaces where audiences can have nuanced conversations about their responses to the play and its themes without perpetuating stereotypes about misogyny in South Asian culture. 

Chai and Chat is a women led event created by Sampad South Asian Arts and Heritage, and is a series of informal, yet inspiring, discussion sessions about a range of topics. It aims to encourage women and girls to get their voices heard through creative projects in the arts.

Accompanied by a nice cup of chai.