Harriet Corke Archives - Page 7 of 18

★★★★

“provocative, creative, and a joy to watch”

It’s not easy to tell an important story, especially when everyone else wants to tell it for you.

Nyla Levy was tired of playing the “Jihadi Bride” in projects that neither knew nor cared about the experiences of such women. In Does My Bomb Look Big in This? she not only reclaims that narrative, but revamps it entirely. About five minutes into Aisha’s explanation of why her best friend Yasmin ended up in Syria, Yasmin herself storms onstage and demands to be involved. ‘This is my story,’ she complains, ‘and you’re telling it boringly.’ The cast take note, and the ninety minutes that follows is an effortlessly funny, affecting, and self-aware piece of theatre.

The friendship between the two girls is the core of this story. Halema Hussain (Aisha) and Nyla Levy (Yasmin) share a strong chemistry that makes their innate understanding of each other feel completely natural. It is this bond that facilitates the eloquent discussions of religious, racial, and political identity that permeate the play. Levy does not demonise or judge the girls for their actions; both performers invite empathy and understanding. The fact that they perform in front of their school lockers is a reminder of how out of their depth they truly are.

But the best moments are those in which both the script and the actors are aware of the fact that this is a performance. The highlight was when Actor Three (enlisted to play all the white characters – brilliantly portrayed by Eleanor Williams) breaks out of character to express her disappointment that ‘every character I play is so one dimensional’. What starts as a parody of white privilege ends with Actor Three being ordered, by Yasmin, to wear a hijab and play the role of Yasmin’s mum. This provocative decision not only forces Actor Three to confront her ignorant sense of entitlement, but forces white audience members to do the same. Once again, Levy makes us aware of how little these stories belong to us and – for all our apparent wokeness – how minimal our understanding of British Asian experience is.

When staff at the Soho Theatre announced that the house was open for this show, the ‘edgy’ title seemed to shock some of those around me. The apparent surprise that such a show exists reinforces the importance of Does My Bomb Look Big in This? – which, for the record, I wouldn’t call ‘edgy’; that would imply a lack of substance. I would call it provocative, creative, and a joy to watch.

Reviewed by Harriet Corke

Photography by Bettina Adela

Don’t Look Away

Pleasance Theatre

Reviewed – 8th May 2019

★★★½

“From exposing the realities faced by asylum seekers to prompting us into self-interrogation, Chapman has created a show firmly rooted in compassion”

The refugee crisis has been a constant in the public consciousness for many years; predictably, it has now become a mainstay in the arts. High profile plays like The Jungle have given us access to personal stories that are all too often lost in the midst of statistics and fleeting front pages.

Grace Chapman’s Don’t Look Away is the latest addition to the genre. The personal story in question is that of Adnan, an eighteen year old boy seeking asylum in the UK. His journey from Aleppo to Bradford was 4500 miles long: much to his dismay, it isn’t even close to being over.

But Adnan is not our protagonist. That would be Cath: the cleaning lady who takes him in on his first night in the country and becomes gradually all the more involved in his story. The Home Office aside, the play’s antagonist is Jamie, Cath’s entitled son, who feels confused and threatened by his mother’s investment in Adnan’s life.

Chapman was inspired to write the play after members of her family began housing asylum seekers. Whilst she may simply have sought to write about her own experiences, she simultaneously found an interesting way to re-tell and re-interrogate an oft-told story. She exposes the stark reality of seeking asylum, the ways in which the system is stacked against Adnan in unimaginable ways. It also explores the ways in which we as individuals respond to global crises. Jamie believes that Cath is in over her head, but Cath strives to do more. It is interesting to consider her motivations for doing so: despite the fact that her actions are genuine, she seems to be using this situation to compensate for the lost connection between herself and Jamie. The interplay between Cath the failed mother and Cath the determined friend makes her a well-rounded character, saving her from becoming the dreaded White Saviour. All three characters leap off the page with force. Julia Barrie attentively explores Cath’s fragility in addition to her resilience, whilst Brian Fletcher is nicely detestable as Jamie. Robert Hannouch is bold and charismatic as Adnan, full of hope and energy that makes him a pleasure to watch.

For me the flaws in this production come from its staging. The movement sequences (save the one at the beginning) add little and feel clunky, fracturing the play’s tight structure for no good reason. The translucent curtain at the back of the set takes away from the overall sparseness; I wish it was used in more creative and expressive ways. The ending does feel somewhat unbelievable, which is a shame as it undercuts the subtlety of the preceding scenes. These are quite minor problems, yet they do inhibit the production in significant and unavoidable ways.

Don’t Look Away isn’t the perfect play, yet it is undoubtedly important. From exposing the realities faced by asylum seekers to prompting us into self-interrogation, Chapman has created a show firmly rooted in compassion.

Soho Theatre

Reviewed – 22nd May 2019

★★★★

“provocative, creative, and a joy to watch”

It’s not easy to tell an important story, especially when everyone else wants to tell it for you.

Reviewed by Harriet Corke

Photography by Bettina Adela

Does my Bomb Look Big in This?

Soho Theatre until 8th June

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

Pleasance Theatre

Reviewed – 8th May 2019

★★★½

“From exposing the realities faced by asylum seekers to prompting us into self-interrogation, Chapman has created a show firmly rooted in compassion”

The refugee crisis has been a constant in the public consciousness for many years; predictably, it has now become a mainstay in the arts. High profile plays like The Jungle have given us access to personal stories that are all too often lost in the midst of statistics and fleeting front pages.

Grace Chapman’s Don’t Look Away is the latest addition to the genre. The personal story in question is that of Adnan, an eighteen year old boy seeking asylum in the UK. His journey from Aleppo to Bradford was 4500 miles long: much to his dismay, it isn’t even close to being over.

Don’t Look Away isn’t the perfect play, yet it is undoubtedly important. From exposing the realities faced by asylum seekers to prompting us into self-interrogation, Chapman has created a show firmly rooted in compassion.

Reviewed by Harriet Corke

Photography by Ryan Cowan

Don’t Look Away

Pleasance Theatre until 18th May

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue: