Milli Bhatia Archives - thespyinthestalls.com

★★★

“There are some lovely moments in this one woman show, but it doesn’t quite get below the surface of the subject matter”

This endearing exploration of a teenage football fan’s identity ultimately feels a little toothless.

Lizzie is an English Coventry supporter. But she’s also half Scottish, and half Indian, and a 13-year-old girl in a very white town in 1996. These parts of her identity clash together, as she struggles to find her place as an atypical football fan.

The premise is clear but the story goes exactly the way you’d expect. Hannah Kumari’s script is littered with 1990s references, from CK1 perfume to a dance number from the U.K.’s ‘96 Eurovision entry. It’s grounded in its world, but the decision to set it in this era feels a little random and does nothing to avoid inevitable Bend it Like Beckham comparisons.

Nikhita Lesler’s performance is charming, but its peppy naivety leaves little room for the introspection which might bring more depth and complexity to the show. There is a warmth to her performance though, which sets the tone and means the play isn’t overwhelmingly bleak. Equally, it makes it feel tame.

This is amplified by Max Lindsay’s direction which lacks any pause for reflection. There’s a gut punching revelation, which isn’t quite earned in the general tone up until then and so somehow feels like a cheap reveal. The range of characters, and caricatures, is deftly handled, and there are some witty moments as Lizzie struggles around other people in her life. There are also some genuinely moving moments, but the strongest are when Lizzie interacts with others, rather than her slightly forced audience asides.

The play is produced by FSA and Fans for Diversity which explains why there are moments that feel like an advert for watching football. There’s a nod to the future, to 2024 when football culture (especially women’s football culture) has changed. I would’ve been more interested to see a contemporary take on this story and look at how much it really has changed for this character to go to football games, given the game is still so interlinked with racism and nationalism.

There are some lovely moments in this one woman show, but it doesn’t quite get below the surface of the subject matter. It’s sweet, and charming, but a little empty.

My White Best Friend and Even More Letters Best Left Unsaid

The Bunker

Reviewed – 25th November 2019

★★★★

“a hugely powerful piece of theatre, a hugely important piece of theatre, and one that everyone must see”

On arrival at the Bunker Theatre we are handed wristbands, and enter into a theatre space transformed. There are three pieces of stage, in the corner is a DJ, and milling around are the audience, stood waiting, ready. Posters adorn the walls that highlight the show’s history and echoing the gig-like set up designed by Khadija Raza.

The first letter, by Rachel De-Lahay, the night’s curator, begins with a request to reshuffle the space, putting black and brown, queer and female bodies, front and centre.

This first letter is to her best friend, her white best friend, and it is read by Inès de Clercq. It is about the micro-aggressions, as well as the macro, the things people say that they don’t mean, that they don’t even see the problem in, the things that hurt all the more for it. The letter talks about white privilege, about how even a best friend can be part of the problem. “This is the fight you and your white best friend will never have,” writes De-Lahay, highlighting how much is left unsaid.

The second letter is to a “white ex situation-man-ship”, read by Tom Mothersdale, a white actor, who is reading these words for the first time. It touches upon the white privilege surrounding drug addiction and the way it is talked about. The letter and final letter of the evening starts, “Dear so-called allies.” Read by Susan Wokoma, our writer takes us back to Stonewall, to the erasure of a black and brown history and a trans history in the way Stonewall is remembered and celebrated today.

These letters are from different people, to different people, but they share a power. They are funny sometimes, and moving at other times, and generous and unforgiving and brave, spilling over with words that have been left on the tips of tongues too many times to count.

‘My White Best Friend (And Even More Letters Left Unsaid)’ is back by popular demand, with new letters and performers each night, and it isn’t hard to see why. The audience audibly responds to what is being read out, to a mis-pronounciation of a black name by a white actors, to things they recognise in their own experience, to things they will leave here with trying harder to recognise in their black and brown friends’ experiences. It is hard not to respond, like that, in the middle of the space, surrounded by people.

ENG-ER-LAND at the King’s Head Theatre

★★★

“There are some lovely moments in this one woman show, but it doesn’t quite get below the surface of the subject matter”

ENG-ER-LAND at the King’s Head Theatre

Reviewed on 31st July 2024

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography by Jack Jeffreys

Previously reviewed at this venue:

ENG-ER-LAND

ENG-ER-LAND

The Bunker

Reviewed – 25th November 2019

★★★★

“a hugely powerful piece of theatre, a hugely important piece of theatre, and one that everyone must see”

The first letter, by Rachel De-Lahay, the night’s curator, begins with a request to reshuffle the space, putting black and brown, queer and female bodies, front and centre.

These letters are from different people, to different people, but they share a power. They are funny sometimes, and moving at other times, and generous and unforgiving and brave, spilling over with words that have been left on the tips of tongues too many times to count.

Directed by Milli Bhatia, this is a hugely powerful piece of theatre, a hugely important piece of theatre, and one that everyone must see.

Reviewed by Amelia Brown

My White Best Friend and Even More Letters Best Left Unsaid

The Bunker until 30th November

Previously reviewed at this venue: