Scriptwriter’s gothic play, which started as a short story during Birkbeck degree, takes to the stage
Nilgin Yusuf, who discovered scriptwriting during her Birkbeck degree, says “she’s finally doing what she’s meant to be doing” as her debut play NINE MOONS takes to the stage this Halloween.
A playwright, who discovered scriptwriting at Birkbeck, has “a new lease of life” as her debut play NINE MOONS is set to be performed.
Nilgin Yusuf, 58, completed a part-time creative writing degree at Birkbeck in 2022 after finding herself stuck professionally.
She had built a successful career as a fashion journalist in magazines and national newspapers before teaching media students at the London College of Fashion, UAL. She later became the media school’s creative director.
Nilgin said: “The job didn’t make me happy like I thought it would. I felt like I had hit a brick wall.
“It took me far away from writing and I was still craving that creative output.”
She searched online for courses, applied for the part-time BA Creative Writing programme at Birkbeck and was thrilled to be accepted.
She said: “I chose the BA because I wanted to go back to basics and take it as slowly as possible. I wanted to understand the building blocks of creative writing.
“It was so incredible to touch base with that part of myself and to give myself the time to read, write and study writers from a whole range of disciplines from poetry to creative non-fiction.
“Going back to learning and being surrounded by other writers was like a rebirth.
“When older people choose to retrain, they embark on their journey with clarity, purpose, open-mindedness and gratitude.”
After about five months of combining evening learning with her job as creative director, she decided to hand in her notice and become self-employed, teaching and writing freelance instead.
She said: “The whole point of my week was to have those two evenings at Birkbeck and the rest of the week became less meaningful.
“I realised I had to pack the job in and have never looked back.
“The creative writing course allowed me to try out everything and it was there I discovered scriptwriting. It really spoke to me and I was excited by the possibility of writing like this.”
After graduation, Nilgin took part in a nine-month programme run by emerging writers’ group Mrs C’s Collective and funded by Arts Council England.
During the programme, four new plays were commissioned from four new writers, working through the development of a script, from pitching, redrafting, exploring structure and character, through to working with directors and designers.
It during this programme that Nilgin’s debut play NINE MOONS was born.
She said: “NINE MOONS started initially as a short story in a story-writing module in my second year. I had this idea to write a story set in nine full moon cycles.”
NINE MOONS is described as a modern coming-of-age story with a gothic twist, and follows three teenage girls learning to embrace puberty, feminism and the differences between them.
It is being performed at the Old Red Lion Theatre, Islington, at 7pm on Saturday 26 October and Sunday 27 October.
Performances then take place at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre, Kentish Town, at 7.30pm on Tuesday 29 October and Wednesday 30 October with the final performance on Halloween.
Reflecting on her career change, Nilgin said: “It’s been incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. I feel like I am doing what I am meant to be doing.
“And, I feel like I am only at the beginning.”
Buy tickets for the Old Red Lion Theatre performances here and the Lion and Unicorn Theatre performances here.