The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2025 - Issue 38

biteperformance The second story is about Jimmy (played by Jerome) and Adam (Dwayne). Jimmy is a super gaming geek, and Adam is a maths whizz. Their unlikely friendship reached the realisation that they don’t have much in common, and as such, Adam is contemplat- ing ending his friendship with Jimmy. Coming from a volatile home, Jimmy uses gaming as an escape and tries to enrol Adam in that world, to little avail. These scenes of Jimmy changing personality in and out of his home shine a light on the backgrounds that young people have to contend with whilst maintaining a ‘normal’ social life. Flash- back scenes reveal Adam helping Jimmy with his maths. Also, Adam finally getting to witness Jimmy’s home life gives him insight into how vital his friendship is to the gaming geek and considerations and contemplations are made. In the third, and my favourite story, Quasim, aka Quas’ (Jerome) and Ahmed (Dwayne) are tight buddies. Quasim has the hots for (off cast) Yazmin, with scenes showing his lower jaw wiping the football space as she walks by. Yazmin is an imagined character, but Jerome’s acting is so convincing that I can actually see her on stage. Yazmin, however, is depicted only through a project- ed, smooth-talking, silky, sultry yet respectable voice. Damn, no wonder he’s got the hots for her; she’s damn fine! This comedy-romantic story tests their friendship as Quasim asks Ahmed to get Yazmin’s number. Currently, Yazmin has no time for Quasim, but the way he gets hot and bothered in her presence, he can’t help but at least pursue the possibility of her liking him, describing it like “being attacked by a gang of but- terflies.” Ahmed gets Yazmin’s number but under strict orders to never give it out to anyone else. Yazmin and Ahmed are now connected and start late-night chatting, reminiscing over cheesy incidents of years past. They get closer, and it’s evident that Ahmed is developing feelings for Yazmin, at least in their phone relationship. He initially delays giving Quasim her number but, out of brotherhood, divulges it. Yazmin realises that Ahmed has betrayed her trust, which jeop- ardises their phone relationship. Ahmed feels the absence of their nightly chats. During their public confrontation at the ‘cag- es’, Quasim learns that Ahmed and Yazmin were secretly calling each other, and he feels betrayed by his good friend, so he has a go at him. A hilarious dialogue of “Bro!” “Bro!” “Bro!” was said about eight times back and forth to each other, but in very dif- ferent tones that depict a whole lot more that didn’t need to be said, which is a memorable bit of this story. Things are sorted out when loyalties between the three are brought to light through a sort-out chat, resulting in apologies and forgiveness all round. Aaaw! At the end of the performance, I caught up with Zakariye and got his thoughts on his process and future. Lisa: What was the inspiration behind your writing? Zakariye: The inspiration was all real-life stuff. I'm from Bir- mingham, and all those real-life snapshots were of me and my friends growing up. In fact, all the characters’ names are from my friends’ names from school. And that’s the stuff that actually happened in our school. Yeah, the inspiration was always there, in front of my mind. That’s how I grew up, that’s my life! Lisa: So, it was basically art imitating life, your life. Zakariye: Yeah, my friends’ and my lives, and anybody who grew up in or around the ‘cages’, it's reflecting their environment. Lisa: Cool. When you say the ‘cages’, could you be a bit more explicit about what you're talking about? Where in Birmingham were the ‘cages’? Zakariye: Yes, the ‘cages’ were always around the rougher areas. I'm sure there are ‘cages’ in the nice places, but I didn’t grow up in those areas. I grew up in the areas that were beat down, where there’s a gap in the fence. And that's how you get in, so you don't have to pay from the front. Those types of ‘cages’, that’s what I’m talking about. And they were, like, safe places for us. It was, like, caged football, hard concrete ground. If you fall, you scrape both your knees, and there is blood everywhere. You do not fall in caged football! And it was our place of freedom, even though it's like, fenced off, and everything. That was where we got to be ourselves, express ourselves, and it was just somewhere to be that wasn’t outside or in school. “It [cages] was a kind of placement between the outside and the inside.” Lisa: That’s beautiful! I love how every single story is a starter of something big, or a chapter in a book. So, where are you going with Cages ? Or, what are your hopes for what comes next in the play? Zakariye: I would like to bring it to Birmingham. Funny that it's not been shown there before, but it's been here in London. Now I want to take it back to where it came from, then tour it around places that could really do with it. Every city has ‘cages’ where people grow up. And it is so important that I didn't, even though I’m from Birmingham, do anything with this play that made it super specific only to Birmingham. Anybody with any accent can play these characters and can be from anywhere. It could be in Liverpool, Manchester, or Newcastle. And it should! And I hope that it would translate the same. Lisa: That’s brilliant. Exciting prospects for its future. Thank you, Zakariye. I am a glutton for true stories, so learning that this performance was written about real people in the writer’s personal life had me enthralled by Zakariye’s talents even more. And the actors’ abil- ity to take on multiple roles and change energies, accents, and personalities at the drop of a hat had my heart swell even more. This play was brilliant, and I can’t wait to see what else Zakariya creatively has in store for us. To follow Zakariye and see what else he’ll be up to, you can check out his Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/zakariyyee To find out more about what’s on at the iconic Roundhouse, visit their website. www.roundhouse.org.uk/whats-on