Paz Koloman Kaiba and Isik Kaya on Asylum King
Running throughout January 2026, Write Club is The Hope Theatre’s premier festival of new writing, dedicated to showcasing bold stories and expansive ideas. Designed to breathe life into the London fringe during the winter months, the festival provides a vital platform for up to thirty selected shows to make their debut. Under the curation of Joint Artistic Directors Laurel Marks and Toby Hampton, Write Club fosters a collaborative community by offering playwrights and theatre-makers multi-night runs, professional venue support, and dedicated networking opportunities.
To celebrate and support this wonderful festival, we’re publishing a number of interviews with the creatives taking part this year. You can find all of the interviews already published here, and we’ll be adding more as the month goes on.
Up next in our hotse are writer Paz Koloman Kaiba and director Isik Kaya, whose show Asylum King. Inspired by real-life accounts, Asylum King blends classic noir with a documentary heart to challenge how we view the profiteering within the UK asylum crisis.
The show will be playing at The Hope Theatre on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 January. You can find out more about this show and what else is playing at the festival here.
What can audiences expect from the show?
A locked room. A dead man. A journalist trying to make a name for herself by solving the mystery. It’s Knives Out meets Kafka by way of political thriller. Funny, furious, and full of wrong turns and reversals, Asylum King is a whodunit where the real mystery isn’t who did it – it’s how far we’re all willing to go to keep pretending we didn’t.
Is Write Club going to be the show’s first time on stage, or have you already performed elsewhere?
Yes, Write Club will be the play’s first time on stage. For us, this live encounter with people is where the work really begins. We are excited to bring this play, which speaks to a very current issue to a space where audiences are used to seeing work that provokes laughter, curiosity, connection, tension, discomfort, and hope.
What was your inspiration behind the show?
It came from real life encounters with people fleeing conflict and from spending time with those caught inside the UK asylum system. The play grew out of those conversations, and my frustration with the system that so many people are caught up in, and how this reality is accepted by so many of us.
How long have you been working on the play?
I started working on the play around nine months ago, after becoming aware of the immense profiteering taking place around refugee housing. Learning that a small number of individuals in this country were becoming billionaires off the back of human suffering, it felt impossible not to respond to that knowledge.
Is this version how you originally envisioned it or has it changed drastically since you first put pen to paper?
I think it has changed massively, at least in style, as it has gone away from being a documentary-style theatre piece and morphed more into a classic whodunnit with a few twist, which I think helps use the tools of theatre – suspense, misdirection, revelation — as an exploration of the issues whilst still being able to present the facts.
What has been the biggest challenge in realising the writer’s vision for the show?
This play being so full of heavy topics, but also being funny and very human, trying to find the balance between humour and seriousness. Also figuring out how to do a genre play and leaning into this noir style detective story while retaining the documentary elements and not loosing sight of the central themes and issues was challenging, but I think it is that mixture that ultimately makes for a really engaging piece.
Are there any plans for what comes next after the show has finished its run– for you or the show?
Asylum King will have its next showing as part of the Collective Fringe Festival from the 22 to 25 January in London.
If you had to describe your show as a meal what would it be, and why?
It would be a Chilli, made up of many different ingredients, that have simmered together for a long time, making it hard to figure out the different pieces, and with a very spicy twist that will leave a sharp aftertaste.
If your show had a soundtrack, what songs would definitely be on it, and why?
A cover version of 50 Cent’s Many Men, because we listened to it in the rehearsal room incessantly and it’s now stuck in everyones head.
What words of advice/encouragement would you give anyone thinking about doing Write Club next year?
Plays don’t become better by trying to perfect them in isolation. Test out your ideas in front of people, even when you think they are not ready: be bold, be authentic, and trust the audience more than you think you should.
Thanks to Paz and Isik for finding the time to chat. Asylum King plays Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 January at The Hope Theatre, and then Thursday 22 to Sunday 25 January as part of Collective Fringe 2026
