Peanut Butter and Blueberries at Kiln Theatre Kilburn

Taking to the stage just after the 2017 London Bridge attack, the video of her performance went viral with two million hits online.

Amid the swirling sentiment following the terror attack, the spoken word poet wrote about how it felt to be a British Muslim at that moment in This is Not a Humanising Poem.

Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan's debut play is at Kiln Theatre this August (Image: Oluwatosin Daniju)

"The London Bridge attacks had happened that week it was polarising, and I was about to stand on this stage, wearing a hijab, feeling awkward.

"I also felt responsibility because of my visibility, and I remember sitting in Regent's Park thinking 'write something that isn't an apology' . I was trying to write a poem that wasn't a response to that moment and felt right for that moment."

The video sparked interest in the Leeds-born writer who was invited to join the Royal Court writer's group.

Usaamah Ibraheem Hussain in rehearsal for Peanut Butter and Blueberries (Image: Oluwatosin Daniju)

"It wasn't necessarily something I was keen to do, my exposure to theatre was quite limited, but it taught me the art of writing plays," she says.

"It felt like I was being given platforms which made me ask what's important to share?"

Out of her "dabbling" with short scripts came Manzoor-Khan's debut play Peanut Butter and Blueberries which has its premiere at Kiln Theatre.

Through the characters of Bilal and Hafsah, Manzoor-Khan explores how to love when the weight of the world is on your shoulders.

"Indhu (former Kiln Theatre director) asked if there was anything I would like to write and I said 'it's going to sound really boring,'" she says.

Peanut Butter and Blueberries runs at Kiln Theatre from August 8-31 (Image: Kiln Theatre)

"I have never seen two Muslim characters who like being Muslim.

"Islam is often portrayed as this hindrance to having a great life; 'I can't wait to run away and take off my hijab.' Or the Muslim protagonist is always in love with a non Muslim.

"I wanted to write a love story where the crux of the conflict isn't their faith, and so could be something more interesting.

"What would it look like for two Muslim people to reflect another love story, where the hindrance to their love is not an honour killing or a terrorist attack but the sense that if they were to live in a bubble they would hit it off?

"But the reality of the world, racism, Islamophobia, economic realities, filter into their lives creating hyper vigilance and trauma."

Bilal is from Birmingham, of Pakistani heritage with difficult family circumstances, while forthright Hafsah hails from a more privileged background in Bradford. Both are studying at SOAS and find common ground over a peanut butter and blueberry sandwich.

But their budding connection is freighted with realities which reverberate through their lives - from social injustices, to obligations, and past events.

"Bilal experiences these moments of feeling surveilled and criminalised by the state," says Manzoor-Khan.

"It's how that impacts on how we love - how socio-political realities trickle down and effect our psyches and relationships."

After dropping out of an accountancy course and travelling in a search of "identity and roots" Bilal is just trying to get through uni.

Hafsah is "more clear about what she wants" she is writing a novella, taking a gender studies Masters, and has "bigger dreams and hopes than finding a man."

"She is destabilised by Bilal and his experiences, when she sees how the world perceives him, she can write an essay about it but she can't help him.

"What does it mean to see the men in our lives brutalised or treated as terrorists. How can I stand between the person that I love and protect him from them?"

Manzoor-Khan's books include, Seeing for Ourselves, Tangled in Terror: Uprooting Islamophobia and her debut poetry collection Postcolonial Banter which critiques narratives about racism, Islamophobia.

Writing a play has convinced her that theatre, and perhaps in future film, are a platform for moving conversations forward and depicting Muslim stories.

She says: "It's been a wonderful experience to see how characters can grow and develop as they are brought to life.

"You can do a really amazing job of humanising in a non apologetic way through storytelling, writing these complex characters and realities into existence."

She's pleased too that inclusive aspects of the run include alcohol free nights, a prayer space, and changing the performance time so it is "more accessible for people who might need to pray."

"It's not just the story that's inclusive it's wanting to engage people who wouldn't necessarily come to the theatre."

Peanut Butter and Blueberries runs at Kiln Theatre, Kilburn from August 8-31.