Before the Millennium

ملینیم سے پہلے

Before the Millennium is a newly commissioned play written by critically acclaimed British-Pakistani playwright Karim Khan, produced by award-winning British-Indian theatre and opera producer, Jessie Anand and brought to life by a Global Majority creative team.

As the final days of 1999 draw near, Pakistani migrants, Zoya and Iqra, work side by side in Woolworth’s Oxford Cowley branch – anxious and excited for what’s to come in the new millennium. At their Christmas staff party, the pair encounter a mysterious new girl – Faiza – who threatens to alter everything they thought they knew about their friendship and their future. 

Magical, tender and quietly radical, Before the Millennium centres the lived experiences of South Asian, Muslim, and migrant communities charting the joys of a life-changing friendship, the icy bitterness of homesickness and the sacrifice of migration.

Surrounding the play is a wraparound programme of events, exhibitions, food, and workshops co-created with partners including Everyday Muslim, Crisis, Amaliah and Oxford University Pakistani Society.