Omar Bynon on Blue Mist Tour and UK Media’s Hostile Agenda

‘There’s a lot of negative reporting, and it is only increasing – it’s exhausting to even think about,’ says Omar Bynon.

Three years ago, I sat in the Royal Court Upstairs to review Mohamed-Zain Dada’s superb Blue Mist. Bynon played Jihad. He was an aspiring British Pakistani journalist trapped between his ambition and a media industry hungry for damaging stereotypes. That initial run earned an Olivier nomination and won Best Stage Production at the Asian Media Awards. Now, Boundless Theatre and Tamasha have taken the play on a national UK tour. Bynon is back in the role. The political climate surrounding the text has only grown sharper in the intervening years.

In the play, Jihad wins a chance to make a documentary about his community. His hub is Chunkyz Shisha Lounge, a space he shares with friends Rashid (Azan Ahmed) and Asif (Kashif Ghole). His drive for success soon demands questionable moral compromises. I asked Bynon how he keeps the character sympathetic while portraying this ruthless streak.

‘It’s all in Zain’s writing,’ says Bynon. ‘I’m sure we’ve all had instances in our lives where we hurt people we love, and vice versa. We often want conflicting things.’

‘There’s a lot of negative reporting, and it is only increasing – it’s exhausting to even think about,’ says Omar Bynon.

Bynon draws a parallel to his own career choices. ‘I want my main focus in life to be spending quality time with my family, partner and friends, but I also want to use my acting skills to tell stories that have the potential to make a difference. So here I am, touring a show for two months without seeing my loved ones very much at all.’

The key to balancing Jihad’s ambition with his loyalty, Bynon explains, lies in mapping out the exact moments he compromises his values. ‘It’s the cumulative effect of little choices we make that can end up having the biggest impact, so Milli [Bhatia, the director] and I have been focusing on when Jihad makes those choices in the play. That’s really helped.’

The Cost of Institutional Power

Actors rarely get to revisit a role years later. For Bynon, the passage of time has altered his read on Jihad’s desperation to succeed at the fictional Ajami Media. Real-world events have shifted the ground beneath the script.

‘I think a lot about ‘sell-outs’, particularly Black and brown ones, and I know Zain does too,’ Bynon says. He points to recent political history to illustrate his point. ‘Five of the last seven UK Home Secretaries have been Black or South Asian. One of the key responsibilities of home secretaries is managing the immigration system. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that descendants of immigrants have been chosen to be the head enforcers of racist policy in this country, as it complicates the idea that cruel immigration policy is racist.’

Blue Mist asks Jihad to sell out his community for institutional access. Bynon views this narrative against a severe global backdrop. ‘Since we staged Blue Mist in 2023, the stakes have gotten even higher for brown bodies globally. Western Islamophobia has allowed for the justification of a genocide in Palestine and untold humanitarian crimes in Sudan, as well as the rise of fascism in the UK. From Zia Yusuf to Shabana Mahmood to Mohammed bin Salman, brown politicians have made this happen. Jihad’s story is the tip of a very deep iceberg.’

The play directly attacks the commercial pressure to produce sensationalist reporting on South Asian Muslim men. When asked if the actual media industry has improved since the play’s debut, Bynon is blunt.

‘The majority of the UK’s media is extraordinarily right-wing and exists to protect the interests of the rich by spreading division,’ he says. Against this, he positions the play as an act of resistance. ‘Blue Mist is special because it exposes, explores and defies that. Jihad, Rash and Asif are given their full humanity here – they get to talk about their dreams for the future, their dating lives, their families and their faith – all whilst cracking jokes. In a fairer world, stories like Blue Mist would be all over our tellies and stages.’

Moving from Naturalism to Surrealism

The production is not strictly naturalistic. Dada’s script frequently pulls audiences out of the relaxed comedy of Chunkyz Shisha Lounge and plunges them into abstract, physical sequences representing Jihad’s internal anxiety. These are the titular ‘Blue Mist’ moments.

‘There’s nothing natural about racism, so I love that the show pulls the audience out of the cosiness of Chunkyz and into something much more eerie and confronting,’ says Bynon. He credits the creative team—including lighting designer Elliot Griggs, sound designer Elena Peña, and set designer Tomás Palmer—for building these stark transitions. ‘Jihad has a complex, tangled world inside of his head, and we make that world physical and explode it in front of the audience’s faces.’

The physical toll of these scenes is high. ‘Milli and our movement director Theophilus [O. Bailey] have made the transitions from comedy into heightened surrealism feel clear, logical, and really exciting. The hardest thing about the gear shift is not getting out of breath!’

Taking the Show on the Road

The production’s move out of London exposes the material to different regional demographics. The tour includes stops at the Leeds Playhouse, Peterborough’s Key Theatre, Birmingham Rep, and Leicester’s Curve. It also arrives with a practical extension of the play’s themes. Boundless Theatre, which specifically develops work with 15 to 25-year-olds, is partnering with the host venues to recruit and train a cohort of young community producers. These local recruits will conceive and run free events alongside the tour. By funding workshops, open mic nights, and art fairs focused on South Asian and Muslim arts, the initiative aims to build the exact kind of communal spaces depicted on stage.

‘The majority of the UK’s media is extraordinarily right-wing and exists to protect the interests of the rich by spreading division,’ he says. Against this, he positions the play as an act of resistance. ‘Blue Mist is special because it exposes, explores and defies that.

Bynon expects varying reactions to the production, particularly given the UK’s recent political turbulence.

‘I’m really looking forward to seeing how the play lands in different parts of the country, as I’m sure that different audiences will relate in different ways,’ Bynon says. He notes the geographic disparity of recent far-right violence. ‘Being a Londoner, I know I’m protected from a lot of the worst elements of the rise of fascism we’ve seen over the last few years. The race riots in 2024 didn’t affect London at all but I know they did in most of the areas we’re visiting on the tour, so I’m excited to meet artists and activists who are resisting in different regions.’

He adds a lighter objective for the cast while on the road. ‘The Blue Mist team will definitely be using this tour to discover Britain’s best shisha lounge.’

Chunkyz operates as a haven for the play’s central trio. In reality, Bynon finds his own refuge in local cafes.

‘I’m a caff connoisseur!’ he says. ‘Querky Cafe in Forest Gate and Scooter Caffe in Waterloo are the ones I go to most, but I like to sample cafes in whatever area I’m in. They all have their own flavour, whether they’re Lebanese, Turkish, Bengali, Italian, Portuguese or something else.’

These physical locations represent exactly what Dada’s script argues for: spaces where minority communities can exist without external interference. Yet, just like the media narratives attacking those communities, physical spaces face their own threats.

‘One thing Blue Mist also touches on is gentrification,’ says Bynon as our Q& comes to an end. ‘From shisha lounges to cafes, we’ve got to protect our community spaces before everything becomes a Gail’s!’

Amen to that!

Featured Image: Omar Bynon – Headshot supplied by PR