REVIEW - My Beautiful Laundrette is a powerful and important production taking a heavy load of topics to the cleaners!

On Tuesday, we went to The Lowry, Salford to see My Beautiful Laundrette. Read what our reviewer Karen Ryder had to say about this powerful drama...

There seems to be an array of award-winning films turned theatre shows doing the rounds at the moment, and it is proving to be a winning formula with audiences. My Beautiful Laundrette has already proven its worth back in 2019 with the critically acclaimed Nikolai Foster directed production, so much so that it is back on the road with a new production directed by Nicole Behan.  This multi layered story set in a 1980’s Thatcher regime is sadly still throwing up some important discussions regarding its many themes in today's world.  Yet despite its heavy topics such as Nationalism, racism, sexuality, drugs, class, financial crisis, and politics, this Oscar nominated story by Hanif Kureishi finds humour and love in the hopes and desires for a brighter tomorrow.  This tour is produced by The Curve Leicester and supported by the National Theatre as part of The Theatre Nation Partnerships initiative.  The very essence of these partnerships equally give cause for the hope of a greater tomorrow in our wonderful world of theatre.

My Beautiful Laundrette introduces us to Omar, a young British Pakistani whose life has been trapped in a series of agendas, family loyalties, and a lack of opportunities. Then one day his uncle Nasser offers him a new chance.  A chance to work and prove himself. He takes a run down laundrette and despite the odds, finds ways to turn it into a successful business that opens up his world in ways he never dreamed possible.  But the nasty in life is always lurking in alleyways, ready to pounce and try to drag you backwards.  Omar is faced with a world that doesn’t play by the rules, and when those rules aren’t even the same for everyone who plays, they get broken.  As he reconnects with his old school friend Johnny following a racist altercation, Omar sets in motion a whirlwind journey that will test his head against his heart and his authentic truth against his family’s expectations. There are clashes of every kind in this powerful and emotive show, but Omar is not one for ignoring the joys of life either, so also expect plenty of laughs along the way.

This show is full of light and shade, and it allows humour and hate to tussle it out.  A joyous or comedic moment can be immediately squashed by a dark reality, but equally, we can be brought back from the brink of despair or heartache by a very well timed one liner and bittersweet moment.  The writing is exceptional in understanding that you can’t have love without hate and vice versa.  They simply do not exist without the other.  This production explores the tipping point.  There are beautifully uncomfortable moments, and I say beautifully uncomfortable because they quite literally do their job of making you squirm in your seat at the discomfort.  With scenes of racist violence not prepared to dim their light in order to make the moment palatable, this play does not shy away from the way one human is capable of tormenting another.  And it shows prejudice from all angles.  It is also not afraid to use multiple and layered moments of silence.  The effect is sometimes spine chilling as you know no words could follow what you have just witnessed and the silence itself can actually say more.  Other times they feel a little and awkward.  However, I also accept that this could equally be the entire point. 
   

A dark and dismal grey set reflects an inner city during a time of little hope and of financial difficulties.  It is dressed with splashes of colour, perhaps rays of light breaking through and showing that hope is always on the horizon if we allow it.  The set transforms as the show goes on to include neon signs, maybe symbolising that times are changing and that we can affect change in our own world, no matter how small it may seem.  There has been a great deal of intelligent mirroring of the story’s themes in the design of this set by Grace Smart and an imposing stone based scaffolding unit dominates the central stage along with a grey stone wall running the length of the stage.  It speaks volumes towards the oppression felt throughout.  It interestingly also creates a physical barrier between characters, visually playing out the issues at hand.  It is fascinating to watch the characters use the design to climb, straddle, hide and interact with.  Washing machine drums adorn the set and as things progress, this concept is complimented by Ben Cracknell’s lighting design as the drums light up, disco balls shoot beams off in every direction that dance across the actors faces, and scenes are lit to mirror the mood and tensions that are building to a climax.

One of the things I was looking forward to with this show was the 80’s vibe.  Neon costumes, leg warmers, and huge shoulder padded suits do nestle against a set displaying posters of Live Aid, The Pet Shop Boys, Freddie Mercury, and The Ramones, but that’s kind of where it ended.  However, in fairness, this play doesn’t wax lyrical about the 80’s in a positive light so perhaps my expectations in this area were unrealistic. Original music by The Pet Shop Boys provides a film style incidental background mood.  At times these tracks were reduced to transitions and not given the status I was expecting.  The second act begins with the music ramped up for a night club scene but is abruptly killed for the dialogue to begin.  The music transitions sometimes felt a little clunky but again, perhaps this was more to do with my own unfair preconceptions of what I had been expecting rather than anything else.  The 80’s wasn’t all rose tinted bubble perms, puff ball skirts, and my little pony’s after all.  It was also a time of friction, tension, and mounting frustration.  This rage, particularly in the younger generation, spills out across the stage and bursts through in fights, threats, control and abuse as rising angers scale the dominating scenery to raise their voices high above the crowd, chanting uncomfortable slurs. 

Lucca Chadwick-Patel brings Omar to life and provides a performance where we see Omar wear his heart on his sleeve.  From a naïve and cheeky persona, we are privy to how the world around challenges, shapes and moulds his fate.  We witness him transform to an almost aloof nature, gaining his first taste of control and being charmed by its potent and additive qualities, until he starts to turn a blind eye in order to succeed at all costs.  Sam Mitchell as Johnny should be a character we dislike, particularly as he starts the show as a fascist thug.  Yet Mitchell shows us that there is more to Johnny than meets the eye and perhaps he is simply a victim of his own circumstance.  Through his performance, you feel brilliantly confused that you are willing him on.  He makes you care and this is not an easy task to take on considering where he started out.  We recognise his vulnerability amongst all the turmoil and gravitate towards it.  This duo play the star crossed lovers through a multitude of complexities and allow us to believe in their story and their relationship. 

Kammy Darweish as Nasser and Gordon Warnecke as Papa offer Omar opposing paths to take with performances that clearly define the differences in their characters.  As Nasser, Darweish is confrontational, strong, and arrogant in his own beliefs, whilst Warnecke’s Papa is fragile, weaker, jittery.  However, as the story unfolds, their positions shift around and through their performances, we question what it is that actually makes someone strong  - the one who can shout the loudest, or the one who can actually be heard and understood?  Hareet Deol as Salim is dominating and has an edge of unpredictability, making his characters presence on stage unnerving.  Possibly mirroring Nasser, he is always loud and once again the result is that those he is trying to intimidate ultimately stop listening to the noise.  Sharan Phull gives a fresh voice as Tania, and her characters entrapment and desperation shone through in a heart wrenching moment when you can not only see, but feel the fear in her heart for what her future holds.  She shares a touching and tender moment with Emma Bown as Rachel (who also plays Moose) when we see the barriers of race and culture being broken down by love and by a shared understanding of misogyny. Bown and Phull convey so much in this one moment that it is quite remarkable. Paddy Daly as Genghis plays this extreme character with such conviction that you are left feeling uneasy and bewildered.  His stance, physicality and vocal delivery are brutally believable and this level is needed to understand the extreme views and clashes with Salim.

My Beautiful Laundrette gives voice, good and bad, to those whose truths are often spoken behind closed doors, behind family traditions, secrets, and age old beliefs.  Misogyny, arranged marriages, strict and traditional stances on same sex relationships, and many more views often remain hidden in plain sight.  Equally, other views are often spoken unfiltered and way too loudly, with a violent and intimidating intention, meant to cause hurt, hate and harm.  This story looks at it all.  In fact, there is so much to dissect and so much packed in that it can actually make your head spin a little and does risk confusion as to what the key message is in any given moment.  At Omar and Tania’s engagement party for example, the focus keeps switching from arranged marriage, to equality of women, to race, to hate, to illegal business activities, to threats and violence, via snippets of various conversations.  Meanwhile, part of you is still trying to work out if Omar is agreeing to marry Tania to cover up his relationship with Johnny, or because it’s what is expected of him, or if he simply sees it as a good business move in order to keep Nasser sweet.  This is a powerful and important production, and whilst it sometimes felt like there was too much story and not enough time to explore it, it is clearly a committed, educated and dedicated team that are bringing a vital awareness to its audiences with each and every performance they give.  For that, they are all beautiful.

WE SCORE MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE...



Watch our "In Conversation with Lucca Chadwick-Patel" video discussing the production.


My Beautiful Laundrette is on at The Lowry, Salford until Saturday 23rd March 2024.


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