Taking place in the very building where the real events occurred, CAMDENWALLA is a brand new play coming to Camden People’s Theatre from 17th June – 4th July, shining a light on an overlooked chapter of London history, the local Bengali community who refused to be intimidated, and the volunteers who kept each other safe when no one else would.

CAMDENWALLA is set over one night in 1994 inside the Camden Monitoring Project –  a community-led organisation founded to document racist violence in North London and provide safe transport home for local Bengali workers facing harassment and attack.

The play follows Muhammad (played by Bhasker Patel, known for Emmerdale and a veteran of the UK stage), a first-generation Bangladeshi immigrant volunteering through the night, and Alima (played by Nusrath Tapadar), a British-Bangladeshi teenager reluctantly drawn into his world. As calls mount and tensions rise, the pair are forced to confront the gulf between generations, competing ideas of activism, and what it means to care for a community under pressure.

Exploring inherited responsibility, migration, identity and the unseen labour that helped shape modern multicultural Britain, CAMDENWALLA is a powerful new work rooted in resistance and solidarity. As conversations around racism, belonging and community self-organisation continue across Britain, the play highlights the grassroots networks of care that have long existed beyond official recognition and the ordinary people who carried extraordinary responsibility.

Founded by community activist Nasim Ali, who would later become the UK’s first Bangladeshi and Muslim Mayor, the Camden Monitoring Project played a vital role in supporting Bengali communities across the area. Drawing on archival research and real testimony from local residents, particularly members of Camden’s Drummond Street community, the play brings these lived experiences and overlooked histories to the stage.

Written by Jonny Khan (The Shitheads, Royal Court – Olivier Award nominee,  A Thousand Splendid Suns, Birmingham Rep, Statues, Bush Theatre) the production is staged at Camden People’s Theatre, which is situated at the same address where the Camden Monitoring Project was once based, transforming a former site of community organising into a space of remembrance, reflection and live performance.

Alongside the production, Camden People’s Theatre is working with the Drummond Street Traders and Euston BID to host a festival day celebrating the Bengali history and culture of Camden.

Find out more and book tickets: www.cptheatre.co.uk