Stage: A question of faith

Where There Is No Time
by Mohammedally Hashemi
director Hamza Ali
with Mohammedally Hashemi, Milly Zero, Kerena Jagpal
Seven Dials Playhouse, London • 17-28.Mar.26 ★★★

Packed with big ideas, this one-hour drama keeps the audience engaged as we consider moral questions in the context of global culture. The writing is smart and understated, but it's also underpowered, and it becomes opaque due to stagey flourishes and barbed performances. As a result, the three characters are intriguingly prickly but never very likeable, especially with their oversized melodramatic mood swings.

It's set in an atelier in London, where Yemeni-Iranian designer Yusuf (played by writer Mohammedally Hashemi) is preparing his new show with his best friend and muse Nina (Kerena Jagpal). She encourages him to embrace the political edge in his work, and wants him to make a bold statement with his Dress of Faith, which was designed by his late mother, who inspired him to embrace his art and heritage. But the show is being funded by businesswoman Susann (Milly Zero), who wants Yusuf to be more accessible and commercial. She also loathes Nina, and their clash threatens the whole collection.

Essentially, this is a fresh take on the idea of killing your darlings, letting your friends and most beloved ideas go in order to find both artistic and popular success. So the jagged discussions ripple with resonant topicality, given extra weight by the Middle Eastern background, even if everything feels a little too sharply pointed. Each character has a moment when they hit the wall, burning bridges with screaming fury that feels unearned by the characterisations. This leaves the strongly charismatic actors looking arch as their glances throw razor-sharp daggers at each other. Without even a hint of camp humour, this is played with relentless, deadly seriousness.

In an attempt to add cinematic flourishes, the show is staged with jangling musical stings at the moment each character enters or exits, whether or not there's any passage of time. And a swirly time-lapse segment adds similarly distracting flashing lights. These are clearly meant to signify visual edits, but they continually throw us out of the scene. That said, it does add an eye-catching sense of drama to the interaction. And the bigger themes emerge with a real kick.

For information, SEVEN DIALS > 

photo by Tariq Westcarr • 19.Mar.26

Stage: What really happened?

Blue
by June Carryl
director Michael Matthews
with June Carryl, John Colella
set Carla Goodman • sound Charles Moscatiello
Seven Dials Playhouse, London • 5-30.Mar.24 ★★★

Set in 2021 Los Angeles, this pointed two-hander draws a direct line between the incendiary police violence that sparked the Black Lives Matter protests and the January 6th insurrection. It's a bold, intense drama that continually punches its enormous themes about racism and social change. And while there's a razor sharp observation at the centre of the story, it feels perhaps a bit too polarised, never challenging the audience to consider things from a new perspective. This makes it riveting and involving, but never as provocative as it should be.

In a police interrogation room, two long-time friends and colleagues meet under new circumstances. Captain Parker (Carryl) is questioning veteran Sergeant Sully (Colella) about his role in a shooting that left a young man dead after what looked like a routine traffic stop. Over the course of a very tense hour, more details emerge about the situation, and Parker also confronts Sully about evidence that he participated in the attempt to subvert democracy during the Washington DC riot.

Of course, Sully's deep-seated racism and resentment emerge early on, echoed in throwaway lines and attitudes about how he sees society slipping away from what he thinks it should be. He denies it every time, but seeing him say these things directly to a Black woman he counts as a friend is darkly unnerving, and the ripples of emotion both actors convey are powerfully moving. These are seriously immersive roles that both actors play with full-on investment. Carryl is particularly involving as Parker tries to remain calm and professional in such a heated situation, but occasionally loses her cool. And Colella remarkably never flinches as the outspoken, angry and fear-fuelled Sully. Each actor adds extra interest by playing up the fact that these two people know each other very well, which allows the heightened emotion to be balanced with moments of earthy humour.

These realistic touches help create several heart-stopping exchanges over the course of this hour-long interrogation, as witty, natural interaction turns awkward and then heated. This is staged brilliantly, with the audience sitting right in the room, surrounding the table like eavesdropping ghosts. It's fascinating to watch their familiarity strain under the pressure, as a continual string of very clever lines hit the audience with full force. So watching these old friends circle around in an attempt to trap the other is powerfully involving, even if this is written in such a way that it's never a remotely fair fight.

For details: SEVEN DIALS PLAYHOUSE >

photos by Laurie Sparham & David Adly Garcia • 8.Mar.24