Q&A: Rewinding to 1999 - Adam Karim on Directing Before the Millennium

This Christmas, the Old Fire Station is rewinding to Oxford, 1999, for Before the Millennium (1–21 December) — a warm, funny, nostalgia-rich new play set during a Woolworths Christmas party. Director Adam Karim talks to us about bringing Karim Khan’s story to life, blending migration, friendship, and late-90s atmosphere with a fresh, contemporary edge.

How did you approach directing a story that blends nostalgia, friendship, and migration?

Great writers like Karim write from a place of curiosity about the world around them, and the best work for me is about questions rather than messages or answers. So I approached this like with any other play, trying to identify the big questions inside of it and to make a show that revolves them. This play asks us questions about belonging - to family, oneself and to nation, and questions our responsibility & complicity in taking care of each other. It has a gentle, warm tone and flow so it was about respecting that whilst also finding the stakes for these characters and making these questions feel important.

What drew you to the late-1990s Oxford setting and the world of the characters?

Well Karim (Khan - the writer) is from Oxford, and The Old Fire Station approached him with the commission. So all the credit really goes to them! 

It being 1999 and the cusp of a new millennium is interesting as we get to investigate their hopes, from a vantage point of knowing the current situation for Muslims and Pakistani's in the UK. This means we can tell a migration story that sits in warmth and joy without ignoring the present political situation. By looking back we actually feel the present more strongly. 

How are you bringing the Woolworths Christmas party of 1999 to life on stage?

I love how excited everyone is by the Woolworths setting! It holds such a particular nostalgic place in the British Psyche and for us it's about trying to locate that feeling in design & direction rather than in literalness. Having said that you can expect pick n mix, and some throwback items! 

What excites you about directing a Christmas show that explores deeper themes beyond the usual festive clichés?

I love a Christmas cliché as much as the next Grinch and there's some brilliant plays and films in the 'Christmas' genre. But what excited me the most about this Christmas show was how immediately and obviously it stood out as unique. To my knowledge we've never had a play that embraces the 'Christmas play' moniker but told from a Pakistani Muslim lens. It's almost like we disappear for the Festive season! So it's really great to challenge some of those narratives from our own perspective on the season. 

How have rehearsals been, and how has your collaboration with the cast and creative team shaped the production?

Rehearsals have been wonderful, we've got an extremely talented and hilarious cast. The biggest challenge is to stop them corpsing when they're having too much fun! 

We're also blessed with an incredible creative team, Xana who I think is the most talented sound designer / composer around, Holly Ellis on lights working literal magic into the show, and Rakhee Sharma on movement work adding so many wonderful details and choreography! Set and Costume design from Maariyah Sharjill deserves a special mention, she's been so inventive with a really tight budget to bring the spirit of Woolworths and Christmas through her detailed and emotional design. 

How does directing this play compare to your previous work—has it challenged you in new ways?

I love my job because no two days are the same, and every new project brings new challenges and lessons - and this has been no different! I'm constantly in awe of Theatre people and how we can adapt and find creative solutions to problems, this creative team have been so flexible and inventive it's incredible. 

Something new about this project has been working with a dialect coach on a very specific Pakistani accent, we're pretty sure this hasn't really been done in detail before and British Asian actors are expected to just have a 'generic asian' accent in their back pocket. Gurkiran Kaur (voice & dialect) and I wanted to make sure we have this the same detail and authenticity we'd give to 

any other actor using an accent different to their own, and the cast have really risen to the task. 

Before the Millennium runs at the Old Fire Station, Oxford, from 1–21 December.

For more information and tickets, visit: oldfirestation.org.uk/whats-on/before-the-millennium