Best friends Zaid and Neelam shared a dream: get away, make it as writers, build a future where they're free to be themselves. Together, always.

Years later, things are far from what they expected. Zaid's life has kinda stalled – he's half out the closet, living at home and still chasing the dream. While Neelam's has taken a completely different path as she chooses to prioritise her own happiness. As their lives pull further apart, leaving a mess of unsaid things between them, it's going to take something real to bring them back together.

Waleed Akhtar's play The Real Ones is a funny and honest love letter to platonic soulmates. It was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2024, directed by Anthony Simpson-Pike, and starring Nathaniel Curtis and Mariam Haque.