Reviewer: Christine Stanton
“Delightful Double”
3.5 / 5
Talawa are based in Croydon and have an annual programme celebrating new and emerging Black British theatre, which is where this double bill originated. They have performed in Croydon, Bristol and Nottingham and are now back in Croydon for their last few performances of their tour.
Bougie Lanre’s Boulangerie
Writer: Kareem Parkins-Brown
Director: Philip J Morris
Anyone that has worked in hospitality will be able to relate to Kareem Parkins-Brown’s fast-paced focus on customer service, low wages and long days. The charismatic and comedic performer opens the double bill with a relaxed, casual approach to his storytelling, frequently breaking the fourth wall and interacting with the audience as he reflects on his job at a recently gentrified restaurant in Peckham.
Through a series of short poems and integrated monologues, the audience are introduced to his colleagues and friends – most notably, devout Muslim Ahmed who visits church and gambles so frequently he had to escape his home country due to horse-racing debt. He frequently features with retold insights during Kareem’s stories, be it a bad joke or bizarre life motto, his inclusion helps to build a bigger picture of the restaurant and the larger than life characters that work there. Parkins-Brown’s easy delivery and engaging cadence on stage makes for an enjoyable show – which would be elevated even further with a slightly stronger narrative thread to tie some of the monologues together and veer away from just being a series of humorous anecdotes.
The set is simple – with just a kitchen workstation at it’s centre, which helps Parkins-Brown remain the focal of his show. The table tickets with titles for each scene are a nice touch as well, not only tying into the hospitality scenery, but also to break up each mini story in an easy to consume way.
Love in Gravitational Waves
Writer: Testament
Director: Brigitte Adela
Bronwyn (Kamilah Storey) is a regular on dating app LoveLink – hoping to get over her ex and simultaneously broaden her horizons by meeting someone new, ideally someone with completely different views to her, because dating in that bubble in the past has never quite worked out. Enter sweet natured, landscape gardener from up North – Ishmael (Anyebe Godwin) who couldn’t be further from her usual type. His profile wasn’t up to scratch, he wasn’t dressed up enough and he spelt entrepreneur wrong in his bio. Hardly the romance of the century, her sharp-tongue and stand-offish mannerisms are complete turn off for Ishmael who is trying to turn his life around after a battle with addiction. But, accidentally leaving her phone at the bar forces them to interact again, and slowly start to form an unlikely friendship.
Godwin and Storey’s chemistry on stage is absolutely fantastic – allowing the audience to become completely invested in their partnership, their natural dialogue and believable character personification adding the required realism to this brilliant script. As they slowly get to know each other, their walls come down and we start to learn more about the well-written characters, both of which have experienced various hardships and struggles in their lives that add a bit of redeemability to some of their personality misgivings. Testament does a fantastic job of developing the storyline and its characters, even introducing some side characters for a splash of extra humour and variety into the narrative.
Engaging and endearing, this is a touching, yet humorous romcom that doesn’t follow a generic narrative trope, and instead puts a unique, yet realistic spin on a classic dating tale.
Runs Until 15th June 2024
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