JENNY SCOTT meets a writer whose two ambitions have been perfectly fulfilled. . .

IT is the year 2015 and the moon has disappeared. That is the world a Burnley playwright is hoping to evoke for children and teenagers in the world premiere of her new play Moonshed.

Aisha Khan, 30, spent several years working as a full-time teacher before she decided to take up writing.

It is this experience, she says, which helps her to tap into children's imaginations and understand the difficulties they face in the precarious balancing act between close childhood friendships and growing up.

Aisha said: "The two main characters, Anu and Shaun, are about to go to a different school.

"They have been friends forever, but Shaun is growing up faster than Anu and tensions have been growing between the two boys for a while.

"I think it's a situation children in the audience will be able to identify with.

"I hope they will also enjoy the whole experience of theatre, from the set and the technical aspects to what's happening on stage."

As a former English teacher, Aisha relishes drawing children into the theatre -- an experience she enjoyed so much as a child growing up in Burnley.

She said: "My parents exposed me to just about all the arts. We went to the cinema, the theatre, exhibitions -- anywhere and everywhere that was worth going to.

"I have always enjoyed writing and using my imagination. Right now I go to watch as much new theatre and read as many new writers as possible.

"I love exploring different forms and structures. I like anything as long as it's well written."

As a pupil at Towneley High School, Aisha first began to put some of these thoughts down on paper.

She said: "I wrote for myself at school.

"Then, when I was 17, I heard about a play writing competition being run by the Raw Cotton Theatre Company.

"I submitted an idea to them and they liked it, so I spent the whole of the summer holidays writing my first play and it ended up being performed at a festival.

"After that the company was keen for me to write more, but by that time I was at university in Leeds and I was very busy and didn't feel I had the time to finish my essays and write plays."

From university, Aisha decided to become a full-time English and drama teacher.

She returned to her home town to teach 11 to 16-year-olds at Edge End High School in Nelson.

However, the theatre continued to beckon her back into the fold and she decided to quit her job to take up a post with M6 Theatre Company as a drama development officer.

"My job involved a lot of work in the community and education," she said. "Having worked as a teacher, it was a very nice transition back into theatre and it was through this job I got the commission for my next play, In Secret."

In Secret got a reading at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and attracted the attention of BBC Radio which, at the time, was looking for works by new writers.

A BBC producer contacted Aisha and asked her to come up with an idea for radio. Last year her play Paper Flowers was performed on Radio Four.

Aisha said: "It was amazing. Before it went out on air we were given a CD of the finished piece.

"I loved all the technical aspects: the sounds and the music. I'd love to do a few more radio plays."

Meanwhile, the prestigious Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester had contacted Aisha about the possibility of writing a play for children.

Aisha said: "As a teacher, I had lots of ideas and I wanted to do something that was a bit other-worldly.

"The idea of a world without a moon just came to me in one of those moments."

To give her play a realistic backdrop, Aisha embarked on a programme of scientific research.

She said: "I had to find out if the world could survive without the moon. I was looking at its effects on nature and the tides.

"If there were no moon, wildlife would have to readjust and the North and South pole would no longer be fixed.

"In actual fact, these effects would take over 10,000 years to come about, not 10 as in the play. But in order to show these things, I had to make it all take place a lot quicker."

In Moonshed, this uncertain backdrop is echoed in the uncertain friendship of the protagonists Anu and Shaun and eventually helps them to work out the tensions they face.

Aisha said: "In essence, the play is about the transition from childhood to adolescence."

As well her burgeoning theatrical career, Aisha continues to work as a supply teacher at schools in the Burnley, Nelson and Colne areas.

She is even hoping some of her pupils will be able to make the trip down to Manchester to see their teacher's work.

She said: "I still have a strong relationship with some of the schools I've taught at in the past. I've seen a few of the children, who say they are going to come and see it.

"I'll be sitting in the audience, waiting to see what they think."

In the meantime, Aisha enjoys balancing her writing career with her work in schools and hopes to continue to work at both.

She said: "I love teaching and I feel very privileged to be doing both of these things that I love. These are my dream jobs."