A traditional landmark in England's public-school establishment has been culturally captured and redefined in this energetic play about young British Asians. Wide-boy Ravinder is the centre of a social orbit powered by Asian club music, the desire to make money, and forbidden love. As he launches his book, The British Economy: Where They Went Wrong, he explains how he "rose like a phoenix from the ashes of Harrow".
Playwright Manoj Raithatha won a fringe first in Edinburgh for this vivid comedy, which begins with the on-stage DJ, Faisal Osman, setting up the soundtrack for a frenetic dance routine performed by kick-boxing medallist Christopher Ryman. Ryman's character, Romi, most exemplifies how cultural identity has become increasingly fragmented over the past two decades: a qualified barrister in British law who would prefer to pioneer dance music incorporating martial-arts influences, he has fallen in love with white Asianwannabe, Julie, but is too afraid to tell his mother.
Raithatha has an ear for the laugh-guaranteed line, but both the characters and the comedy are drawn with bold, over-simple strokes. It is as if rather than dropping pebbles of observation into this diverse cultural pond, he is dropping boulders: if he lightened his touch, a far more telling play would result.
As gay doctor Rajesh and the repressed homosexual Sunil, Abdala Keserwani and Alec Christie give the most subtley engaging performances. It will be interesting to see Raithatha's next play, but he should stop trying so hard.
BBA And Proud
