A nostalgic celebration of neurodivergent self-discovery written by British Egyptian poet and playwright Sabrina Mahfouz and directed by Caroline Bryant, Argos Archives open at London’s Omnibus Theatre on 27 February before performances in Newcastle and Ipswich.
It follows a woman who has decided to make her son proud by chasing down her dream job at Argos. We caught up with Mahfouz to find out more.
Q&A with Sabrina Mahfouz
What can you tell us about Argos Archives?
Argos Archives was written in collaboration with and in direct response to workshops that Futures Theatre held with Thrive Creatives, a facilitated group of young women on the autism spectrum. Everyone shared stories from their life, as well as imaginings for their future. From this, the story of a Woman on the autism spectrum who wants to be an archivist and decides that, as she’s unable to access this career through the current mainstream pathways, she’ll create her own pathway and the first step will be to get a job at Argos. The story isn’t one person’s, but an amalgamation of fiction and memories from all those who worked on it and from the collective memory of all those who have had Argos in their lives in one way or another.
What inspired you to write the play?
The inspiration came directly from the Thrive creatives. Futures does such wonderful work supporting collaborative creation, so most of what I was doing as a writer within that collaboration was threading together the themes and stories that were the most resonant for the group and helping to shape our lead character’s journey into a single one, whilst absorbing the multiplicity of perspectives that the group offered.
The production is billed as being neurodivergent friendly – was that something that you incorporated in your writing from the outset, and what has it been like working with the team to translate that into the staging?
Neurodivergence is obviously hugely diverse, so there’s nothing that can be incorporated into a production to make sure it is created with every need in mind. What I think it means in this instance is that the different languages of the play – text, speech, song, music, images, music, movement – have been calibrated to allow an enjoyment of the story in whichever way storytelling speaks to you. As the original script was put together before the pandemic, the first week of rehearsals was dedicated to working intensely with the wonderful cast – Shakira Newton, Jess Gough, Eleanor Nawal and the tirelessly brilliant Caroline Bryant, the director of the show and the director of Futures Theatre, to collaborate on a new version of the script. The updated version was also influenced by the impressive artists that are bringing new creative mediums to the collaboration – video design by Charli Davis and Libertad Neves, set design by Lu Herbert, music by Jamie Lu, movement by Lati Saka and lighting by Rachel Sampley, the creative production manager Dylan Tate and the stage manager Maja Lach. Every contribution shaped the play.
How do you hope audiences will react to the production?
I hope audiences feel some aspects of their own frustrations and ambitions reflected back at them, even if they’ve lived very different lives to the one our character has. But mostly I hope they enjoy hanging out (and singing and dancing) with this unique woman who has innovated at every step to be able to find joy and fulfilment in aspects of her life that so many take for granted.
Argos Archives is at The Omnibus Theatre from 25 February to 15 March 2025, then touring.
