Actor John Hollingworth’s first full-length play is set in Bradford, as the city braces itself to host a Conservative Party conference. Picturing a society in political and cultural turmoil, it’s a topical look at questions of identity and faith.
Kash, played with steady authority by Navin Chowdhry, is a local Muslim councillor who aspires to be an MP. He is preparing to speak about building trust between communities. But across the country mosques are under attack, and even his own household is in disarray, as his daughter Qadira (Salma Hoque) has succumbed to the influence of radicals. His white partner Natalie (Clare Calbraith) is drawn into an anti-war protest and abruptly decides to convert to Islam. Curiously, she doesn’t discuss this with him, though she does have to withstand the commentary of her mother Lyn, who spouts platitudes about Britain’s supposedly glorious past.
Hollingworth has several interesting stories to tell. But he has squeezed them into less than two hours and they don’t have enough room to breathe. At times plausibility is strained, and opportunities for thoughtful exploration are missed as the play turns into a series of explosive confrontations.
Still, director Indhu Rubasingham ensures that it’s pacily performed, and there are moments of trenchant humour, many of them deriving from agile Asif Khan and Maya Sondhi, who juggle eleven characters.
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