Alumnae Join Forces to Produce Dark Comedy

Two Alleyn’s alumnae have joined forces to produce Temps, a dark comedy about power and faith. The pair will soon be holding a rehearsed reading of the play and the Alleyn’s community is welcome to join!

Actress and writer Safiya Zanabi (Brading’s 2018) has written and stars in the play which is being directed by Mimi Pattinson (Tyson's 2017). The dark comedy tells the story of two young ‘temps’, Alia and Nora. The pair muse about what they will do when they leave their ‘temporary’ jobs and wonder what really goes on upstairs at the corporation they work for. As the two young women chat into the void, they begin to rebel in their own small ways against the randomness of their fates and economic situations and if they can find a way to put their faith in each other instead.

Safiya’s previous work has been performed at RADA studios, the Oxford Playhouse, Burton Taylor Studios and the Edinburgh Fringe.

Director Mimi has bags of previous exciting experience in the role, having directed Joe Venable’s award-winning On Your Bike and new musical comedy Jingle Street at Edinburgh Fringe to critical acclaim, with the former transferring to The Other Palace in May 2024. In Cambridge, she directed The Seagull, Tick, Tick…Boom!, and assistant directed Sunday in the Park with George at the ADC. She is directing Sophie Stemmons’ Second Temple at Riverside Studios and will associate direct Three Sisters Productions’ contemporary adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s La Ronde.

Tickets are available here for the rehearsed reading of Temps which takes place at McQueens Theatre, London on 8 February 2024 at 7.30pm.

Congratulations Safiyah and Mimi and best of luck with the play!