At only 19 years old, Hadsan Mohamud took a leap into acting in an industry that isn’t easy to step into, especially when there aren’t many people within the acting industry who look like her. Now, at 28, she is the writer and performer of her widely sold-out debut play, Crush, and is currently embarking on a tour across the UK.

She focuses on themes and identities rarely seen on stage, such as mental health, belonging and self-discovery. She does this with a rom-com twist, all whilst representing Somali culture with poetry.

She trained with the National Youth Theatre (NYT), Orange Tree Company and Bush Theatre Company, and has performed in the award-winning play Dugzi Dayz.

Mohamed Hashi is also a Somali-British actor who recently filmed the short Talking Stages and has been in lead roles in short films such as Everyday and The Estate. He joined the production of Crush to represent his culture within his character and in the acting industry, and to teach families how to positively deal with mental health and disorders.

Why did you want to get into acting, and how did it come about for you both?

Hadsan: I’ve been acting since I was 19. I always wanted to act, but I didn’t know how to do it. I just felt like the industry wasn’t always accessible, and it’s just not something that’s done in my family. When I was at university, I had a bit of money, and I thought, “Okay, cool, I will do some acting classes.” From there, I learned about the National Youth Theatre, a charity that helps people get into the theatre space. It’s very competitive, so you have to audition. I auditioned three years in a row, and when I finally got in, it opened my eyes to the industry and how important theatre can be. 

Mohamed: Acting was never something I wanted to do from a young age. I’ve always thought of myself as very bang-average. I was not really good at anything specific, and I went into college and sixth form doing sports science because I thought, “Oh, if I’m good at PE, let me just stick to that.” I was ready to settle [for being] a PE teacher, but I’ve always loved film. I didn’t know how much I loved film until someone told me, “You really like film, like an abnormal amount.”

I never had any formal training. At first I thought I could get by because I’d seen people do it on TV, but I remember doing NYT for the first time, which is what introduced me to stage work.

For those who haven’t seen or read the play, can you tell me a bit about what Crush is about?

Hadsan: Crush is a meet-cute rom-com about two teenagers who meet at an eating disorder clinic. We follow these two characters, Najma and Zakaria, who are both 18. Najma has been going there for four years, Zakaria has been going for six months, and they meet one day by chance. And over the sessions, they find out that they have a lot more in common, such as a love for the arts and their culture, and other similarities. It’s over the course of a couple of months that they build a friendship that sort of turns romantic. 

It’s heartwarming, but it also talks about eating disorders as well. It talks about important topics that we don’t usually see on stage.

What inspired you to write this play? Did the storyline and characters come easily to you?

Hadsan: I have lived experience with an eating disorder. I had an eating disorder as a teenager, but I didn’t want to write specifically about my experience because I felt like that would have been a bit too close to home. One way I could separate myself was to write these two characters who are nothing like me. At first, they were friends, Najma and Zakaria, but as I wrote, I kept thinking that if I were watching this play, I would so want them to get together. As I started writing the scenes, it just sort of turned into a rom-com. When we first staged it at Somali Week Festival, people were laughing; there was comedy and romance. It was a rom-com but with a twist. 

I wanted to write it because I felt like there aren’t a lot of roles for Somali actors, not a lot of roles for Muslim or Black actors where you can be authentic to yourself. It’s been really beautiful to see the audience; they’ve been Somali, they’ve been Black, they’ve been Muslim, they’ve been White; there’ve been so many different people. 

I just wanted to write a complex story and characters that you could really root for. There’s no way you can watch the play and not feel something.

Mohamed, what made you want to join the production?

I never thought about stage. I think I still have stage fright, which probably doesn’t make sense because I could perform in front of however many people. I’d always be very anxious performing, like doing a presentation in school. But I remember when the casting call came about a year ago, someone messaged me and told me to go for it. He was a really good friend and pushed me to audition. When I did end up getting the role, and we had those first few weeks of rehearsal, those worries went away because I was with a good team. 

Hadsan: It was his first time on stage, and you would never think that. He’s so good, and has come such a long way.

Mohamed: I’ve learned so much working on this job and doing as many shows as I can. The experience has helped a lot in my confidence on stage and in everything.

What did you both enjoy the most about performing on stage?

Hadsan: What’s so beautiful about stage and theatre is that you get your flowers on the day. People come up to you after the show and say, “You were great. I really enjoyed it. I loved the play. I love the characters. I was laughing so much. I was crying.” The best part of this play is hearing people’s reactions and being able to get that live audience feedback. There are people who wear hijab who watch our show, and it’s very beautiful to see that they feel represented in the story as Muslims. We need to see more diverse stories on stage. 

Mohamed: I’d say the best part is the freedom of it. When you get on stage, anything can happen. You would rarely have the same show every single time. They say that filmmaking is a director’s medium more than an actor’s medium because there’s a focus on the camera shots, whereas on stage, we could do whatever we want. We have that freedom to play with everything.

One specific moment that speaks to me is during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. On our second preview, we had maybe 15 people in the audience – not many at all – but there was a woman who stayed behind afterwards and she was bawling, and she was saying she was here from Germany for the Fringe Festival, and this was one of the first shows she’d seen. She was telling me how great it was, and it felt so surreal knowing that what we did for that hour on stage had made someone feel like that, it felt very reaffirming. 

Hadsan: There were these Somali girls who came up to us, every weekend we saw them, and I’d say, “Where did you guys come from?” “Oh, we came from Manchester; we came for the day.” Or, “Oh, we came from Birmingham; we came for the day,” they’d say. It’s insane to me, the fact that they’re literally travelling from one city to another to watch the play. That meant a lot to us because it just shows you the power of authentic representation and that we are doing the right thing.

You wanted to increase Somali representation across screens and among the audience. Why was exploring themes of mental health and identity important to you?

Hadsan: We come from a Somali background, and we’re Muslim. Our parents were refugees. My mum was [a refugee], and I feel like because of our upbringing and what we went through, for some of us Somalis who were born here, there’s a lot of trauma, and it’s something we don’t really talk about. A lot of mental health gets swept under the carpet; it’s so taboo. It’s something that is a big problem in our community, and it’s something that I’m really passionate about. I studied psychology at university, and I work for the NHS as well, so, for me, having lived experience, I really wanted to talk about it. A lot of Somali people have come up to us and said, “Oh my God, this is really important. It’s something that we need to talk about.”

If we normalise talking about [eating disorders], it becomes less foreign, and it becomes something that we can deal with. The play talks about mental health and eating disorders, but through the device of a rom-com. So, we talk about heavy themes, but the comedy and romance balance it out. If the play was entirely sad and heartbreaking, I feel like the audience wouldn’t connect with it. There are moments of light-heartedness, so those deep moments hit harder. 

Why did you incorporate a lot of poetry in the play?

Hadsan: The reason why I added poetry is that, as Somalis, we are a nation of poets; we talk about that in the play. A lot of us are artists, and we have ties to music, and I really wanted to embed that in the play. Obviously, the two characters are Somali, but ultimately, if you take out those small lines, they could be from any ethnicity. 

The play highlights a lot of issues around Zakaria hiding his eating disorder from his dad and his friend. Why was it important for you both to have the audience see the additional issues that men go through?

Hadsan: With men, it’s something that we don’t really talk about, I think that is a stigma. Obviously, Zakaria is a young Black man, so he must struggle with the masculinity aspect. We have a line in place where it says that eating disorders don’t discriminate. It can happen to anyone; so many people have eating disorders, but they don’t know about it. He’s hiding it because he’s ashamed. Everyone who has an eating disorder tends to feel ashamed, but a male character will be even more so.

What do you both hope the audience takes away from your play?

Mohamed: I’d say to the parents who come and see it, give your children the space to open up and speak about these things, because I don’t think any child should have to hide things from their parents, especially if they’re going through something. I think parents should be patient; if ethnic parents do not know how to handle this, don’t be afraid to go to the hospital. Don’t be afraid to seek professional help. Professional help doesn’t mean you have a problem per se, it just means you are trying to find answers for yourself to the questions that you have. 

Hadsan: The message of the play is that you’re not alone and that healing doesn’t happen overnight. If your friends might be going through something that they need support with, just check in on them and try to be there. 

What’s next for them both?

Hadsan is currently working on other plays and she’s just about to start on her next play about girlhood. But she’d also love to do an adaptation of Crush into a film or TV show. Mohamed is focused on the Crush tour across the UK whilst looking for further acting jobs.