In our new series profiling exciting theatre talents, the actor-writer remembers lessons from Phyllida Lloyd and rapping in Molière
The nation’s theatres may be dark, but in a new series of fortnightly articles we are shining a light on arresting stage talent across the breadth of the industry. The actors, writers, directors, designers and others we’ll be profiling are not necessarily new faces – many have been grafting for years – but they all deserve the spotlight for their virtuosity. We start with Zainab Hasan, an actor who has battled to break into a sometimes elite and exclusive industry, and who has proved herself, time and again, to be a remarkably intelligent performer.
When Hasan was training in youth theatre, with ambitions to become a professional actor, an influential industry figure told her that she was “too fat” to ever make it. “His words stuck with me,” she says. “I was told that multiple times.”
