Omar El-Khairy
Writer for theatre and film.
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Theatre, Film and TV Jessica Cooper
+44 (0)20 7393 4488
Email Jessica Cooper
Biography
Omar is a writer for stage and screen.
He was part of the Young Writers Programmes at both the Royal Court Theatre and Soho Theatre and a former Leverhulme Associate Playwright at the Bush Theatre.
His plays include Burst, Sour Lips, The Keepers of Infinite Space and The Chaplain: or, a short tale of how we learned to love good Muslims whilst torturing bad ones.
His last play Homegrown was originally commissioned as part of the National Youth Theatre's 2015 season, and was published independently in 2017. Lyn Gardner described Homegrown as ‘gloriously authentic, snapping and crackling with the sense of young people’.
Omar is also a founding member of Paper Tiger, a collective of theatre and filmmakers, working collaboratively and autonomously.
His first short film No Exit received its world premiere at last year's Dubai International Film Festival and screened both nationally and internationally. He is currently working on his first feature-length screenplay. He is in the process of developing two television projects, including a mixed form documentary with Playground Entertainment.
Omar also holds a PhD in Sociology from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is a member of the 2017 Old Vic Twelve, and is working on a new original play with the theatre.
CV
TV
Writer
Part of the 2018 Sky Table Reads series.
British student Karim who has suffered terrible nightmares since his mother's death a year ago. When he stumbles across an ancient Palmyran relic, the spectre that haunts Karim's dreams crosses over into real life.
Film
Writer
A reinterpretation of a classic genre - a short horror film about the terrors of race.
Like many of his generation, Ali has decided to run away from the hardships of war. Along the way, he meets a stranger at a bus stop - an encounter that will change everything ...
Theatre
Writer
Omar is one of three playwrights developing original work as part of the prestigious Old Vic 12 development scheme.
A site-specific theatrical response to the phenomenon of young people leaving Britain to join Islamic State. The immersive piece explores the implications of radicalisation and extremism on the people and communities behind the headlines.
Homegrown was independently published in 2017.
Written as part of the Nabokov Latitude Festival's 'Reformation Nation' event uniting music, storytelling and spoken word on the dancefloor. DJ Sweetpea hosted by Deefa MC.
Written as part of the Come to Where I'm From London series.
Rahim lives in a peculiar state. When people approach him they see only his surroundings, themselves, or figments of their own imagination - indeed, everything and anything except him. But Rahim is no longer hiding from the world around him...
Part of a tryptic of short plays exploring acts of love, violence and revolution, challenging our notions of compliance and conformism.
A short play as part of 'Walking the Tightrope' at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Saeed is a bookseller in Nablus, until one day he is arrested and thrown into gaol. As his future disappears, Saeed finds that the answer to his problems may lie in the past, and in the secrets his father has kept from him...
With three people, one room and a pool of unanswerable questions, we witness the human struggle to be satisfied with society and our lives in the 21st century.
DAMASCUS 18:00 - Amina was walking near Fares Al-Khouri Street when three armed men seized her. Amina's present location is still unknown.
An Ovalhouse Counter-Culture Commission.
Reaction piece to the play Charming Man by Gabriel Bisset-Smith.
A short play, as part of the 2010 Old Vic New Voices T.S. Eliot Exchange.
With the recession beginning to bite and the impending threat of mass layoffs, workers at the New Media plant find themselves caught up in a bitter struggle with their employers. Ashley decides to take matters into his own hands.
An independent nation rises from the rubble of a defeated colonial regime. A quixotic young Sudanese woman dreams of creating a better future. But her equally headstrong mother has other designs - and is hiding secrets of a turbulent past.
A grown-up fairytale of love and loyalty set in our world, but not just yet.