FULL CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM ANNOUNCED FOR
THE MINISTRY OF LESBIAN AFFAIRS
AT KILN THEATRE
Kiln Theatre, Antic Productions and Damsel Productions today announce the full cast and creative team for The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs, Iman Qureshi’s musical comedy about community, belonging, and the power of finding your voice. The production runs at Kiln Theatre, 13 June – 12 July 2025 (Press Night: Friday 20 June) following a sold-out run at Soho Theatre.
Hannah Hauer-King directs Fanta Barrie (My Lady Jane, Amazon) as Ellie, Olivier Award-winner Liz Carr (The Normal Heart, National Theatre) as Fi, Zak Ghazi-Torbati (Hot Gay Time Machine, Soho Theatre Trafalgar Studio/The Other Palace) as The Men, Leah Harvey (Sweetpea, Sky Atlantic) as Lori, Georgie Henley (The Chronicles of Narnia, Disney) as Ana, Mariah Louca as Bridget (The Doctor, Almeida Theatre), Serena Manteghi (English, Kiln Theatre / RSC) as Dina, and Shuna Snow (Big Mood, Channel 4) as Connie.
The creative team includes Anna Reid (Designer), Zoe Spurr (Lighting Designer), Nicola T Chang (Co-Sound Designer, Composer & Co-Musical Director), Tingying Dong (Co-Sound Designer), Viki Calver (Co-Musical Director), Stuart Burt CDA CSA (Casting Director), Yael Elisheva (Assistant Director), and Danielle Levy (Costume Supervisor).
Amit Sharma, Artistic Director & CEO of Kiln Theatre, said: “What an absolutely phenomenal cast we have for The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs. Iman’s play celebrates love, identity and community with heart and humour – and with this cast it has all of the above in abundance. I can’t wait for audiences to come and see this brilliant play!”
Iman Qureshi, writer, said: “Any one of these marvellous cast members would be a coup, but together our Ministry is an absolute tour de force. In this difficult political, cultural and economic environment for new writing, I am overjoyed that our much loved, sell-out show is being revived at the Kiln Theatre, and I can’t wait for Kilburn High Road to transform into the unofficial lesbian stomping ground of summer 2025. Don’t sleep on tickets, they’re going fast!”
Hannah Hauer-King, director, said: “I couldn’t be more excited to have such an incredible group of artists bringing this story back to life. It really is a dream cast, with new company members Liz Carr, Leah Harvey, Georgie Henley, Zak Ghazi-Torbati and Serena Manteghi bringing new energy to the show, Shuna Snow returning as much-loved Connie the choir director, Fanta Barrie returning as life of the party Ellie, and Mariah Louca as the irreplaceable Brig.”
A Kiln Theatre, Antic Productions and Damsel Productions co-production
THE MINISTRY OF LESBIAN AFFAIRS
by Iman Qureshi
directed by Hannah Hauer-King
13 June – 12 July 2025
The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs, the only lesbian choir in the country, are trying to win their place on the Pride mainstage. In a run-down church hall with an OWL (Older, Wiser Lesbian) at the helm, the rag tag choir navigate love, loss, and trying to agree on song choices. But despite their best intentions, they find that harmony comes at a price.
Packed with laugh out loud moments and lots of lesbian drama, this heart-warming musical comedy returns following its sold-out premiere at Soho Theatre in 2022.
The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs premiered at the Soho Theatre in a co- production with Damsel Productions in 2022.
Fanta Barrie | Ellie
Fanta Barrie graduated from Rose Bruford in 2018 and went straight into Songlines (High Tide/Edinburgh Festival).
Theatre credits include: Belly Up (Turbine Theatre); The Loved Ones (Gate Theatre); The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs (Soho Theatre); The Lovely Bones (UK Tour); The Amber Trap (Theatre 503/Damsel productions) and The Cereal Café (The Other Place).
Television credits include: My Lady Jane (Amazon).
Liz Carr | Fi
Theatre credits include: The Normal Heart (for which she won an Olivier award for Best Supporting Actress in a Play), And Others (National Theatre); Unspeakable Conversations (Druid Theatre); Assisted Suicide The Musical (Royal Festival Hall); The Ugly Girl, In the House of the Moles (Bluecoat Theatre, Liverpool); It Hasn’t Happened Yet (Wolverhampton Arena); George Dandin, Mother Courage, The Vagina Monologues (Graeae Theatre Company); The Exception & The Rule (Young Vic).
Television credits include: Loki Season 2 (Marvel Studios); The Witcher Series 2 & 3 (Netflix); Good Omens Series 2 (Amazon Studios); Better Off Dead?, This Is Going To Hurt, Then Barbara Met Alan, Who Do You Think You Are?, Criptales, Les Miserables, Silent Witness, CBeebies Bedtime Stories (BBC); Devs (DNA Films) and The OA Series 2 (Netflix).
Film credits include: Infinite (Paramount); Le Accelerator (Filmrage) and The Beaten (Short Film).
Zak Ghazi-Torbati | The Men
Theatre credits include: The Hypochondriac (Crucible Theatre Sheffield); The Busy Body (Orange Tree Theatre); Scratches (Jermyn Street Theatre); Hot Gay Time Machine (Soho Theatre/Trafalgar Studio/The Other Palace); A Girl, Standing (Theatre503); Twelfth Night (European Tour); Antigone/Lysistrata and Measure for Measure (Cambridge Arts Theatre).
Television credits include: I Hate You (Big Talk Productions); Doctors (BBC) and The Age of Outrage (BBC Wales).
Radio credits include: Cymbeline (BBC Radio 4).
Leah Harvey | Lori
Theatre credits include: Emelia (Shakespeare’s Globe); Girl in the Machine (Young Vic); As You Like It (@SohoPlace); The Wonderful World of Dissocia (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Small Island (National Theatre); Yous Two (Hampstead Theatre); The Tempest (The Donmar at King’s Cross Theatre/St. Ann’s Warehouse, New York); Henry IV and Julius Caesar (The Donmar at King’s Cross Theatre).
Television credits include: Sweetpea (Sky Atlantic); A Gentleman in Moscow (Paramount+); Foundation – Seasons 1 and 2 (Apple TV+ – BAFTA Nominated for Best Supporting Actress 2022); Search and Destroy (Hulu); Les Miserables (BBC One) and Uncle (BBC).
Film credits include: Tuesday (A24); Fighting With My Family (Channel 4 Films); On The Road (Revolution Films) and Dustbin Baby (BBC).
Georgie Henley | Ana
Georgie Henley is an actress, writer and director. She is best known as young Lucy in all three Narnia franchise films. She is a graduate of Cambridge University, where she starred in and directed many theatre productions and wrote and directed her first short film, Tide.
Television credits include: The Diplomat (Netflix), Partygate (Channel 4 – Royal Television Society Award for Best Single Drama).
Mariah Louca | Bridget
Theatre credits include: The Doctor (Almeida Theatre/Adelaide Festival/UK tour/West End/Park Avenue Armory, New York); Multiple Casualty Incident (The Yard); Burnt at the Stake (Or the Whole of the Truth) (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Ministry Of Lesbian Affairs (Soho Theatre); Best Of Enemies (Young Vic/Noël Coward Theatre); Maryland (Royal Court/Battersea Arts Centre); Queer Upstairs (Royal Court); Cherry Jezebel(Liverpool Everyman); Suspect Device (Kabosh Theatre/Outburst Festival, Belfast); All Mod Cons (Lyric Theatre, Belfast); Julius Caesar, Playing For Time, A Dream, The Sheffield Mysteries, 20 Tiny Plays About Sheffield (Sheffield Crucible); Tuesdays At Tesco’s, Bloom, Blossom, Bloom (Southwark Playhouse); Bumps(Theatre503); Ajar(Theatre By The Lake/Graeae); The Interview (The Mono Box/PLAYSTART) and The Vagina Monologues (Theatre Deli).
Television credits include: the forthcoming What It Feels Like for a Girl (BBC); Waterloo Road, Eastenders, Casualty and Doctors (BBC).
Film credits include: the forthcoming rom-com Jingle Bell Heist and Re-displacement (short).
Serena Manteghi | Dina
For Kiln: English (Also RSC).
Theatre credits include: Otherland(Almeida); Bleak Expectations (Criterion); Hound of the Baskervilles (UK Tour); Hamlet (Shakespeare’s Rose); Eurydice (Soho Playhouse, NY); Build a Rocket (Stephen Joseph/ UK Tour); The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Stephen Joseph); Echoes (Brits Off Broadway); My Mother Said I Never Should (The Other Place); The Railway Children (Kings Cross); HEART (Traverse); Mucky Kid (Theatre503); Agammemnon, Macbeth (Southwark Playhouse); The Tartuffe (York Theatre Royal); Some Small Love Story (Arts) and The Beggar’s Opera (York Theatre Royal).
Television credits include: The Diplomat (World Productions/Alibi); The Other Half (RangaBee/ Dave) and Mrs Wilson (Bronte Films/BBC).
Film credits include: Miss Jihadi (Heavy Wait Productions).
Shuna Snow | Connie
Shuna trained at The Poor School. She has worked for the RSC, the National Theatre and extensively in London/UK regional theatre.
Theatre credits include: The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs (Soho Theatre); The Swell (The Orange Tree); Brideshead Revisited (ETT); Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, Julius Caesar The Winter’s Tale (Mercury Theatre Colchester). Iron (Offies Awards nominated Best Actress – Old Red Lion Theatre); Hamlet (Actors From The London Stage, US tour).
Television credits include: Big Mood (Channel 4).
Film credits include The Boy In The Woods.
Iman Qureshi | Writer
Iman Qureshi is an award-winning writer for stage and screen. Her break-out play The Funeral Director won the prestigious Papatango New Writing Prize in 2018 and premiered at Southwark Playhouse directed by Hannah Hauer-King. Her next play The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs also directed by Hauer-King, premiered on the Soho Theatre’s main stage in 2022 to great acclaim. She held the position of writer in residence at the National Theatre for a year in 2023 and is now writing a new play under commission. She is also developing new work with the Almeida, English Touring Theatre, Papatango, and the Royal Court and she is developing a new musical. For screen, she completed a two year first look deal with Paramount+ in 2021 and previously her short Home Girl, directed by Poonam Brah was selected by Film London for their London Calling short film slate and was later selected for the 2019 BFI Flare Festival. Her short film The Ceremony (Open Sky) was selected for the Vancouver International Film Festival 2022, and won Best Screenplay at the Artists Forum Festival of the Moving Image.
Hannah Hauer-King | Director
Hannah Hauer-King is an Olivier Award nominated and award winning director and dramaturg. Directing work includes: The Swell (Hightide Festival/Orange Tree Theatre – Oliver Award nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre), The Brief Life and Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria (Arcola Theatre/New York), The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs, Fabric, Fury (Soho Theatre), The Funeral Director (Southwark Playhouse/ UK tour), Circle Game (Southwark Playhouse), Call Me Fury (Hope Theatre), The Amber Trap (Theatre503), Grotty, Breathe (Bunker Theatre), Revolt She Said Revolt Again (RCSSD), Clay (Pleasance Theatre)and Dry Land (Jermyn Street Theatre). Associate/Assistant work includes: Fiddler On The Roof (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), The Wife of Willesden (Kiln Theatre, ART Boston and BAM NY), Romeo & Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe), Daytona (Park Theatre & Theatre Royal Haymarket), Radiant Vermin (Soho Theatre) and Titus Andronicus (Greenwich Theatre). Cabaret works includes: Witt n Camp (Soho Theatre), Siblings (Crazy Coqs) and Lilith (Bunker Theatre). Hannah is the co-founder of Damsel Productions and was Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio.
Kiln Theatre Listings
269 Kilburn High Road, London, NW6 7JR
Box Office: 020 7328 1000
SHANGHAI DOLLS
Until 10 May 2025
Tickets: £15 – £40
Access performances:
Audio Described 8 May, 7.30pm, preceded by a Touch Tour
Captioned 26 and 28 April, 7.30pm
Relaxed 3 May, 2.30pm
Special performances:
Post show Q&A 24 April, 7.30pm
THE MINISTRY OF LESBIAN AFFAIRS
13 June – 12 July 2025
Tickets: £15 – £40
Access performances:
Audio Described 10 July, 7.30pm, preceded by a Touch Tour
Captioned 3 July, 7.30pm
Relaxed 9 July, 2.30pm
Special performances:
Alcohol Free 30 June, 7.30pm
Post show Q&A 26 June, 7.30pm
COVEN
31 October – 13 December 2025
Tickets: £15 – £40
Access performances:
Audio Described 11 December, 7.30pm, preceded by a Touch Tour
Captioned 1 December, 7.30pm
Relaxed 3 December, 2.30pm
Special performances:
Alcohol Free 17 November, 7.30pm
Post show Q&A 18 November, 7.30pm
SEAGULLS
12 February – 21 March 2026
Tickets: £15 – £40
Access performances:
Audio Described 12 March, 7.30pm, preceded by a Touch Tour
Captioned 19 March, 7.30pm
Relaxed 14 March, 2.30pm
Special performances:
Alcohol Free 16 March, 7.30pm
Post show Q&A 10 March, 7.30pm
PLEASE PLEASE ME
16 April – 23 May 2026
Tickets: £15 – £40
Access performances:
Audio Described 7 May, 7.30pm, preceded by a Touch Tour
Captioned 14 May, 7.30pm
Relaxed 20 May, 2.30pm
Special performances:
Alcohol Free 27 April, 7.30pm
Post show Q&A 12 May, 7.30pm