Categories
Theatre Reviews

REVIEW: ⭐️⭐️ Statues📍Studio, Bush Theatre

Azan Ahmed’s play about a young Muslim man’s journey towards discovering his father provides ample opportunity to tell the story of those on the margins, but  is let down by its unoriginality.

By Hamza Jahanzeb | 16 October 2024

Photo credit: Harry Elletson

The Bush Theatre has, in recent years, brought their A-game when it comes to commissioning new writers and minorities voices to the fore, so it was a surprise to me that I hadn’t visited their smaller, studio space until I came in to see Statues.

If you make a sharp right from the entrance (opposite the Shepherd’s Bush tube station), it’s mere steps  hidden away space which houses circa. 40 seats. Intimate, you could say. I even catch a glimpse of an actor in The Real Ones being directed by Stage Manager on duty during a performance taking place in the larger Holloway theatre. Risky business. However, starting the performance of Statues at 8pm meant that there were no further interruptions for the cast, otherwise that could have leant into a programming nightmare.

I was invited to come to this smaller space to seer Azan Ahmed’s Statues. The premise for it is simple: A young Muslim man grieves his father who we find out died ‘in his sleep’, and is collecting his possessions from an estate in South Kilburn (SK) and comes across a cassette player which reveal his pious religious self the son knew his father for was predetermined by a phase as ‘Double MC’, a wannabe MC with dreams of getting a record deal with Sony Music. As a teacher in the local area, he mentors – or fails, some would say – his young Muslim pupil Khalil who dares call Hamlet as a ‘radical.’ Consequences are felt by all characters, but it meanders in ways so as not to have one focus in reality.  On paper, it reads as an intriguing play about discovering a father’s old cassette tapes.

Though, as it unfolds, we are given much of what previous playwrights have brought: a ‘Prevent’ policy, gentrification and sadly loss. Where this play sparkled were in its flashbacks of the 90s, where the two men on stage (Ahmed as his characters father, meanwhile Johnny Khan as ) grab wired mics and treat the audience to an electrifying live rap.  It just felt like there were three plays in this one play, and it needed work to make it much more focused. It felt like it was a first draft, in desperate need of a robust edit.

The set comprised of a solid, brick-like tower block: 50 Wordsworth Drive, in SK (south Kilburn). Yet another play about prevent and gentrification, I thought. I’d be lying if Yusuf didn’t remind me of my experiences: read English (albeit at Oxford), and then went on to be a teacher (I give talks to students considering Publishing), though it really sparkles when we heard the narrative of his father. It’s an uneven play, with gliders of but ultimately flawed. Even at 85 minutes, it’s in need of an edit and a sharp understanding of the thorough exploration of grief: and more importantly, to redeem itself from being yet another “Prevent-play”. Sadly, the lack of women in the play are notably evident: the gamified acting of the auntie (Dolly) doesn’t land as intended, bordering on cringe as opposed to endearing.

Similarly, Yusuf’s mother seems to act as a a mere plot device where there could have been an interesting interrogation of separation which isn’t common in traditional Pakistani-Muslim families. I wanted her story, and I was sadly denied it.

Had this play been about Mustafa, and his experiences alone I guess that’d be much more an exciting trajectory instead of bringing it to the Prevent-Plays we’ve grown accustomed to. It’s almost as though there’s a level of oversaturation and this is sadly where it misfired, despite fun live performances (which as a stand-alone, would have been excellent viewing).

Until 9 Nov 2024 only | https://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/event/statues/

** N.B. This is an honest review, in exchange for a gifted / complimentary ticket. The reviewer has written this with their editorial control, with no external influence on how to frame the show. #AdvertisementFeature #PRInvite #Gifted #ad **