Mirror, mirror on the wall: Muslim pantomime Snow Brown and her Seven Chachay shows why inclusivity wins

The pantomime is part and parcel of the UK's festive season, and one could argue, a British national treasure.

These theatre productions of popular fairy tales usually take place during the festive holiday period and tend to be a mix of slapstick comedy and musical, with one key feature being audience participation.

However, one pantomime, which recently concluded its sold-out tour, has reimagined Britain's pantomime tradition by blending Muslim culture with comedy and family-friendly joy.

Snow Brown and her Seven Chachay (Urdu for uncles) is the third Muslim pantomime to be created, written and directed by Abdullah Afzal, who many Brits will recognise as Amjad from BBC sitcom Citizen Khan, where he played the main character's ditsy son-in-law.

After five seasons, Citizen Khan ended in 2016, marking a shift in Abdullah's career. While some of his co-actors went on to play roles in British television soaps and dramas, Abdullah says the end of the popular show, one of Britain's first to centre on a Muslim family, brought him to reckon with his faith and the direction of his acting career. Ultimately, he felt that the roles being offered to him would compromise his beliefs.

"A lot of the roles that were being offered to me just didn't sit well in terms of my own religious views, my principles and the line that I've drawn," he shares with The New Arab. "I almost felt like I went past that line a few times in Citizen Khan. I became a father at the time, and I needed to hone myself and reconnect with my religion."

Abdullah decided to pursue stand-up comedy, which became a full-fledged career. During that time, he says he wrote his own film, a Muslim rom-com. Still, while TV networks and production companies gave him stellar feedback, he has struggled to find one that will leave his script as is — a feel-good movie in which a Muslim boy meets a Muslim girl without any of the usual stereotypes.

As a stand-up comedian, Abdullah says he noticed a particular hunger for jokes peppered with Islamic references by Muslim audiences, and that is when he turned his hand to something that has never been done before — a Muslim panto.

First teaming up with UK charity Penny Appeal, Abdullah created Cinder'Aliyah in 2020, which, due to COVID-19, only hit the stages in 2021. The show, a Muslim retelling of Cinderella in which a Pakistani girl is trapped at home by her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, Shagufta and Bushra, was so popular that it enjoyed a second run the following year.

Abdullah recalls the tickets selling out in 48 hours: "The reaction we got was just phenomenal; I remember the goosebumps I got during the standing ovation after the show. In the third year, I went to a whole new level with Beauty and the Balaah, [a Muslim version of Beauty and the Beast], which was a much more complex story. Trying to Muslimify the story was quite a challenge. We sold 17,000 tickets for that one."

From A true love's kiss to Quranic healing

Through his Muslim pantos, Abdullah has created a halal-friendly form of entertainment for Muslims in the UK where they can see aspects of themselves in the characters on stage, even if they include princesses, magic mirrors and fairy godmothers. "It's become a yearly tradition for so many families," says Abdullah.

In 2023, he launched his own theatre company, Muslim Panto, and his latest production, Snow Brown and her Seven Chachay, has enjoyed just as much success, selling nearly 25,000 tickets. 

Snow Brown is played by Lubna Saleh, with Nezar Al-Ahdal as the Prince and Zoe Iqbal as the wicked stepmother.

Instead of seven dwarves, Snow Brown has seven protective uncles, and instead of the Prince waking her from her sleep with true love's kiss, he and the uncles consult the Quran for healing.

The pantomime is full of Islamic references and jokes, as well as challenging certain socio-cultural practices.

"When the prince suggests that he has an idea of how to awaken her, which is a true love's kiss, he's met with some slippers from Snow Brown's uncles! I think he's taught about what is halal very quickly," Abdullah laughs.

"We want to educate our Muslim audience that you've got the Quran and Hadith for a reason. Study them and learn, and also challenge cultural things, such as only getting married to people in your own culture, for example," he adds.

"Just challenging things like that is important because our communities need to evolve and change. I think this is a good way of bringing the teachings of Islam and their positivity to the younger generation."

It's a relatively small cast, with Abdullah playing multiple roles in addition to handling most aspects of the production itself, from writing the script and directing to logistics for shuttling his cast up and down the UK and handling his own PR. It is exhausting work, he says, but worth it.

"You get these children at the end wanting to see Snow Brown, take pictures because she looks like their mum or their sister, and she's got a hijab on and they want to be like her," he says. "It's so heartwarming, and it's why we do it."

The show must go on

Abdullah's Muslim pantomimes aren't just for Muslim audiences. During a showing of Snow Brown and her Seven Chachay, he recalls a non-Muslim audience member waiting until the very end of the show to speak to him. It turned out she produces pantomimes in the West End.

"She told me she produces pantomimes for a living and came to see what this was about," Abdullah recalls.

"She said, 'I am in awe of what you've been able to pull off. As a non-Muslim, I found it hysterical. I found the way the story was put together brilliant.' She just gave me so much props for what I can do. And when you get it from someone like that who's actually in the business, it gives you that extra motivation and inspiration to keep going."

There is one thing, Abdullah says, that he still struggles with. When young Muslims come up to him and say he has paved the path for British Muslims to have a career in acting or that he has inspired them to take up acting, he is both happy and apprehensive, remembering how he had to compromise his beliefs in the industry.

He is hopeful that opening his own production company will create a safe space for budding Muslim actors to hone their craft. The work has already started with the Muslim pantomimes; when casting, he says calls are open to anyone who wants to learn how to act or sing, regardless of experience.

"I love developing young actors and young performers, and that's a big passion of mine," he says.

"Whether you have experience or not, whether your talent is where it needs to be yet or not, Inshallah (God willing) if you're up for it and I see something in you, I'll take you on, and we'll make sure we put on a great show.”

For now, Abdullah is keeping his fingers crossed, as the pre-sale for tickets to his next Muslim pantomime, The Lion Sheikh, recently went live, with sales crucial for securing his venues.

But he is excited. "You can just imagine the Islamic equivalent of Hakuna Matata!" he laughs.

"The animals will all be Muslims. It will be quite interesting to do the warthog as Muslims. There's a lot of fun to have with this."

The Lion Sheikh will be showing between 30 October 2026 and 10 January 2027 in multiple venues across the UK. Tickets are available to purchase on the Muslim Panto website.

Yousra Samir Imran is a British Egyptian writer and author based in Yorkshire. She is the author of Hijab and Red Lipstick, published by Hashtag Press

Follow her on X: @UNDERYOURABAYA