Karim Khan: Finding Poetry in a 1999 Woolworths

“To me, that felt like the perfect prism through which to explore the experience of migration and displacement, where you’re constantly holding onto fond memories of a past that no longer exists.”

It is a striking observation from playwright Karim Khan. We are discussing Before the Millennium, his latest work currently running at Oxford’s Old Fire Station until 21 December, and he is dismantling the British public’s rosy, pick ‘n’ mix-stained memories of Woolworths. For Khan, the defunct high street retailer is more than a tomb of consumer nostalgia; it is a vessel for a much sharper exploration of belonging.

Following the electric success of Brown Boys Swim—which secured a Fringe First and a transfer to the Soho Theatre—Khan has returned to his roots. Before the Millennium is set in the dying days of 1999, amidst the frenetic anxiety of the Y2K bug and the turn of the century.

The narrative focuses on Zoya and Iqra, two best friends and Pakistani migrants working the floor at a Woolworths on the Cowley Road.

The Politics of Pick ‘n’ Mix

The premise is undeniably specific, yet Khan argues it taps into a “shared consciousness”. The setting allows for a duality often missing from festive theatre: the intersection of British pop culture and the South Asian experience.

“I reflected on my own memories of Woolworths and how beloved it was to so many people,” Khan explains. “It feels like a symbol of something deeply treasured and no longer exists.”

By grounding the story in such a specific cultural artefact, Khan aims to bridge the gap between the universal and the specific. The play is described as “lyrical and gently surreal”, a tone that might seem at odds with the fluorescence of a retail staff room. However, Khan insists that the poetry lies in the vernacular.

“I think there’s something deeply poetic and lyrical in that everyday humour between two best friends,” he says. “We begin to [see] glimmers of the beauty in the mundane, and the extraordinary in the ordinary.”

A Y2K Grenade

It is not, however, merely a cosy trip down memory lane soundtracked by 90s “pop bangers”. The narrative pivots on the arrival of Faiza, a mysterious new colleague who disrupts the equilibrium between Zoya and Iqra. The countdown to midnight on New Year’s Eve 1999 becomes a ticking clock for personal revelation as much as global anxiety.

Khan does not mince words regarding this new arrival’s function in the drama. “She tests the friendship of the women,” he notes, adding that Faiza possesses information that threatens the characters’ foundational assumptions. “She’s a real grenade.”

This tension—the “grenade” amidst the tinsel—is central to the Old Fire Station’s programming ethos. As their seventh original Christmas production, the venue explicitly sidesteps the pantomime model in favour of work that speaks to adult audiences. Sharing their building with the homelessness charity Crisis, the organisation has a remit to explore the complexities of the season, rather than just its sugar-coated surface.

Nostalgia with Teeth

Revisiting 1999 was evidently a labour of love for the playwright, who admits to enjoying the research phase. “I loved listening back to all the 90s music… and diving back into what was happening during that time,” he says.

Yet, even the confectionery comes with a caveat. When asked about his own go-to order, Khan recalls liking the fudge and white chocolate mice, but notes that “some of the sweets were gelatine, so I couldn’t have them alas.” It is a small detail, but one that reinforces the play’s underlying theme: navigating a space that wasn’t designed for you, and finding the joy where you can.

Khan’s script attempts to walk the “bittersweet line” of the festive season. He suggests that the most effective Christmas stories are those that allow room for reflection and loss, rather than enforced joviality.

“The best Christmas stories feel deeply joyous and melancholic,” Khan observes. “They make you reflect about the end of the year and your life, while making you feel grateful for all the things you hold in life.”

A New Prism

Ultimately, Before the Millennium is an assertion of presence. It places South Asian women at the centre of the quintessential British Christmas narrative, reclaiming the nostalgia of the 90s through a lens that has historically been marginalised in theatre.

For Khan, who describes the Old Fire Station as the place where his “theatre journey began as a child”, this production is both a homecoming and a new proposition for the audience.

“We often don’t see Christmas stories told through this prism—of being South Asian, Muslim, a migrant—I’m so excited to see audiences meet that proposition!”

Featured Image: Prabhleen Oberoi, Gurjot Dhaliwal and Hannah Khalique-Brown in Before the Millennium – image by Alex Brenner

Before the Millennium runs at the Old Fire Station, Oxford, until 21 December. For tickets or more information, click here.