Projects
2019 to 2021 – Highlight Arts
I was Executive Director of the arts organisation Highlight Arts, which works with artists from conflict-affected areas and encourages collaboration with UK based artists. With the core belief that art can be a catalyst for social change, Highlight Arts works towards creating high-quality art and events that are politically engaged and educational.
2019 - Performances Beyond Two Shores
I was selected to take part in this Creative Europe project which aims to develop the production, circulation and professionalisation of young Arab related performance and theatre artists in Europe. I took part in their ‘gatherings’ series for young Arab artists living in Europe during the partners’ festivals to exchange ideas on artistic practice and working as a cultural professional in Europe. I attended the Napoli Teatro Festival (Naples) and Les Rencontres à l’échelle (Marseilles).
2019 – Morning Manifesto
I co-hosted Morning Manifesto at the Edinburgh International Festival 2019. 15 writers from around the world were invited to co-author a manifesto for the future. The audience was invited to debate their ideas every morning. This project was inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, collectively authored by representatives from all regions of the world, and part of Fly The Flag, a celebration of its 70th anniversary.
2019 – Memory as a Weapon
Performed and contributed stories for the Memory as a Weapon project, a performance that remembers Winnie Mandela and uses her experience as a through line. This multilingual show combined music, story, testimony from Winnie’s prison diaries, poetry/spoken word, lullabies, folklore and personal history.
2017 to present – Chill Habibi
A cabaret of music, poetry, theatre, and performance from Scotland and the Arab World, Chill Habibi ran for 21 nights at the Edinburgh Fringe and occasionally resurfaces in Glasgow. With performances from Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, and Scotland Chill Habibi has received 4 star reviews, features in the international press, and even a guest appearance from Emma Thompson.
2017 – Arab Arts Focus Edinburgh
Project managing the Arab Arts Focus showcase at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017. AAF was a showcase of theatre and performance, promoting the best of contemporary Arab theatre and performance. It started as a festival within a festival at D-CAF in Cairo, Egypt and now the showcase is produced both locally and internationally.
2017 – Haneen
A bilingual adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s iconic novel 1982, Janine. Co-written with Henry Bell and developed in Glasgow and Cairo with the support of Creative Scotland, British Council Egypt, The National Theatre of Scotland, Govanhill Baths, and Playwrights’ Studio Scotland.
2016 - Lelah
Lelah was developed with support from the National Theatre of Scotland as part of their Break Through Writers programme. It received further development, culminating in a staged reading at the Tron Theatre when New Inck Theatre picked it up.
2015 to 2018 – The Workers Theatre
Was a founding member of a new co-operatively owned and managed theatre company aiming to open a radical new theatre venue for Scotland. www.workerstheatre.co.uk our initial projects have included a festival of performance on Glasgow’s Southside and the Megaphone Residencies, four crowdfunded residencies for Artists of Colour in Scotland.
2015 – Lifted
Working with Triad Pictures and co-written with Henry Bell, Lifted, saw full houses in its original run of 14 performances at the Edinburgh Free Fringe, and finally an encore performance at Summerhall.
Reviews included: ‘The funniest, freshest, rawest, and most alive and kicking hour I’ve spent at the fringe this year’ - Liz Lochhead and ‘rich visual language… simple, true and excellent storytelling’ -Broadway Baby.
2015 – Here’s the News From Over There
I performed, translated and contributed writing to Northern Stage’s show Here’s the News from Over There at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2015. The show comprised of performing contributions by several writers and theatre makers of Arab heritage and beyond.
2014 to present – Niqabi Ninja
Niqabi Ninja was written in response to the mob sexual assaults that occurred during demonstrations in Tahrir Square between 2011 and 2014. It received a reading at the Tron Theatre in Mayfesto 2014. I received Creative Scotland funding to develop the play and presented a work-in-progress at Platform in 2015. Since then the play has been performed in Cape Town, South Africa and in Kampala, Uganda. It’s also been published in an anthology of contemporary plays by African women. I’m still working on putting on a UK production.
‘A powerful, thought-provoking play’ – Theatre Scene Cape Town
‘This potent play from the pen of Sara Shaarawi ticks all the boxes for theatre that is moving and thought-provoking’ – Cape Town Times
2012 – One Day in Spring
I translated short plays and performed in the A Play, a Pie and a Pint’s show One Day in Spring. It was a devised piece about the Arab Spring taken from news/online stories, short plays written by Arab writers and personal experience.
