Review: Out of Sorts at Theatre503

© Helen Murry

An attractive money-earning law grad, engaged to a respectable Muslim entrepreneur? Zara At-Allas should be the perfect example of a modern British-Muslim daughter, yet something's just not right with her. She refuses to wear the hijab, she fakes salat and, worse still, she repeatedly bypasses her mother's cooking when visiting the family home. Danusia Samal's full-length debut, which won Theatre503’s 2018 International Playwrighting Award, is a perceptively forthright examination of a young British Muslim woman’s conflicted existence in millennial Britain.

Zara (Nalân Burgess), in her early thirties, has gone all out to deny her Muslim upbringing, wearing Western clothes, losing her Arabic and drinking alcohol to fit in with her English friends. Her rather privileged white flatmate Alice Reilly (Emma Denly) is a bossy ambitious lawyer on a quest to be culturally 'woke', dating Brummie Nigerian Anthony (Claudius Peters) and attempting ethnic dishes from Yotam Ottolenghi. Though Zara appears to enjoy her trendy ‘English’ lifestyle, gradually and with great sensitivity Samal digs deep to reveal all is not well beneath the party-fuelled faҫade.

© Helen Murry

Rebecca Wood’s well-considered set, with its expansive run of olive-green kitchen units, makes the theatre’s compact stage feel much wider. The kitchen-diner where all the action takes place is cleverly designed on a spectrum, with no harsh divisions, representing both of Zara’s homes and cultural identities. To the left there's a bag of bulk-buy rice followed by foil-wrapped couscous and lamb kebabs on the stove; then eco-friendly food jars and organic Pukka teas embellish sleek floating shelves to the right. Ali Hunter’s use of colourful LED strip lighting helps root the play in the now while blending the two cultural spaces.

Though the verbose first act ends with a satisfying punch, dramatically the play is a fairly slow burn throughout. Nevertheless, there is an abundance of well-observed insightful dialogue from Samal, especially in later scenes between Zara, Anthony and Alice with on-point debates over positive discrimination and unconscious racial bias.

© Helen Murry

Another success is that this Middle Eastern family switches unapologetically between English and Arabic, adding a natural authenticity. The characters never feel stereotypical: they are nuanced and full of contradictions. Bubbly cabdriver Baba (Nayef Rashed) has a hint of menacing prejudice towards black boys and tolerates his daughters’ swearing. Fiery sister Fatima (Oznur Cifci), a Muslim homebody who wears cane rows, speaks ‘street’ and is a talented lyricist. Mum Layla (Myriam Acharki) is gentle but also strong, proactive and progressive, cooking English 'spotty dick' and fostering her children's freedom of choice.

Tanuja Amarasuriya’s direction ensures the comedy is purposeful, and although a few jokes don’t quite land there are satisfying laugh-out-loud moments. Beyond the laughs lies a cautionary tale about the potential mental/physical damage caused when the children of refugees feel pressure to maintain their dual cultural heritage, but ultimately fail to belong to either side.

Cocoa’s verdict: An enjoyable play for those who like talk more than action, with an important message about belonging and British Muslim female identity.

⭐⭐⭐

Out of Sorts is on at Theatre503 from 9 October–2 November 2019

Running time: 1hr 55mins (incl interval)