Rabiah Hussain

Rabiah was a writer for the prestigious Kudos TV and Royal Court Theatre Fellowship Programme in 2019, following which, she was commissioned by Royal Court to write WORD-PLAY which has premiered in July 2023. She was commissioned by Royal Court to write another play and was part of their One Night Stand programme. Rabiah was in the writer’s room for Riz Ahmed’s ENGLISTAN, and completed a shadow scheme with The Forge for ACKLEY BRIDGE. She is currently developing WORD- PLAY into a TV series with The Development Partnership and she is working on another TV series with HTM.

In 2018, Rabiah was part of the BBC Drama Room programme and is an alumnus of the B3 Media Talent Lab for upcoming BAME filmmakers. Rabiah’s debut full-length play, SPUN, premiered at Arcola Theatre in July 2018, receiving 4-star reviews in The Guardian and The Stage, and was nominated for Best Stage Production at the Asian Media Awards. SPUN toured Canada in 2019, and won the German Baden-Wuttemberg Youth Theatre Prize in 2020. Rabiah co-wrote WE ARE SHADOWS, an audio drama tour of Brick Lane for Tamasha Theatre in 2020. Her other plays include WHERE I LIVE AND WHAT I LIVE For written for Theatre Absolute in 2017. 

Rabiah was the copywriter for the 2019 LEVI’s Music Project campaign video, YOUR VOICE. YOUR WAY.

Rabiah’s plays, poetry, monologues, and audio projects have been part of programmes with Tamasha Theatre, The Rich Mix, The Space Arts Centre, The Bunker Theatre, RADA, Bechdel Theatre, Theatre Absolute, and Battersea Art Centre.

Accompanying her creative work, Rabiah has contributed opinion pieces to The Guardian, Huffington Post Blog, Exeunt Magazine, Burnt Roti, The F-Word, Gal-Dem and Wales Arts Review.

WORD-PLAY Reviews

Evening Standard  – Often hilarious, sometimes moving, this work about how words matter has a cumulative power…Playful, thoughtful, and deliciously up-to-the-minute

The Stage – The play is at its most resonant [ ] in the way it captures language’s ability both to divide people, and to unite them

The Guardian – Boldly, excitingly experimental…Hussain’s script shines in sudden moments of lyrical outrage and the actors do these scenes justice

Time Out – Word-Play’ deliberately talks around its points, in a series of sketch-like scenes exploring how language clouds reality…it’s blade-sharp.

Metro – ...The evening fizzes along with thought-provoking and explosive examples of how even innocuous words can do damage

What’s On Stage – This play shows how it’s all too easy to manipulate language for self-serving purposes and to use a lot of words while saying nothing – especially when it comes to ‘balance’