Theatre
I began my playwrighting career as part of an Asian women’s theatre group called Kali. My first play, Lingering Voices, addressed the plight of Indian villagers and had a reading at the Stratford East theatre in London followed by a week's run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It was reviewed by The Scotsman who called it “a philosophical, inventive and assured debut by writer Saman Shad.”
I have been a writer in resident at the Hampstead Theatre and at the Soho Theatre and a number of my pieces have been performed and read in theatres across London. I also wrote a children’s play for the Hampstead Theatre, as part of the Heat&Light Youth theatre company.
In Sydney, I wrote an immersive theatre piece for Mongrel Mouth. The Age of Entitlement, which was presented at the Rocks Pop up Festival. Another play, The Second Son, was performed in Melbourne in December 2017.
A reading of my most recent work, Nas' Marriage Agency was performed at the Darlinghurst Theatre as part of the Next in Line Festival in 2020, and was subsequently developed into a full length play 'The Marriage Agency' performed at the Kings Cross Theatre in September 2022.
Radio
I started my radio career at the BBC, where I was a scriptwriter for the BBC Asian Network’s drama series Silver Street for five years. I also wrote an afternoon play for BBC Radio called Cooking by Heart. Additionally, I have had a number of short plays performed on BBC Radio. In Australia I have been making radio programs for the ABC’s Radio National. Most recently I made a half hour radio documentary about multicultural motherhood called Muminprogress.
