Marriage Material by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti. Novel by Sathnam Sangera Birmingham Repertory Theatre, 3☆☆☆. Review: Joanna Jarvis.

Photo Credit: Helen Murray.

Marriage Material by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti

From the Novel by Sathnam Sangera

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, 6 Centenary Square, B1 2EP,

3☆☆☆. Review: Joanna Jarvis.

“Warm and funny family saga of tradition versus improvement.”

The setting is a corner shop in Wolverhampton, run by first-generation immigrants Mr and Mrs Bains in the era of Enoch Powell. Their daughters Kamaljit and Surinder, played with energy and purpose by Kiran Landa and Anoushka Deshmukh, tussle with the conflicting power of traditional family ties and opportunities offered by the new country.

Mr Bains came to England to give his family a better life but has been worn down by hard work and constant abuse from the locals that patronise his shop. His relationship with his daughters highlights their differing aspirations. Kamaljit longs for a loving marriage and children, but her devotion to her father is dismissed. Surinder, beautiful and highly intelligent longs to stay at school and ‘become someone’. For her father, this means marrying her to ‘a someone’.

Their mother, given fierce strength by Avita Jay, sees the value in Surinder’s ambition, but her husband’s sudden death changes her outlook, and she returns to the safe traditional path of marriage for her daughters. Her change of direction brings about a devastating family split.

Act two brings us to the present day. Surinder’s son Arjan, played with sensitivity by Jaz Singh Deol, returns to Wolverhampton for the funeral of his father. He has had all the advantages of life in the new country but has lost a sense of his roots.

This is a very funny family saga, with persuasive and engaging characters played with verve by a strong cast. However, adapting a novel with such a broad sweep brings pitfalls. By presenting the lives of two different generations Bhatti’s adaption loses narrative focus at times. Act one is in many ways the more interesting story, although the second act has more emotional heft. We are left with gaps in the girl’s stories that feel like absences. Their relationship with their father, for example is under explored. It seems that the only way he can cope with Surinder’s intelligence and ambition is to call her his ‘boy’. While Kamaljit, his devoted carer is dismissed with abuse. Confronting him while alive, their mother feels able to challenge his attitudes, left a widow she is unable to summon the same strength and falls back on tradition. There is no time to explore this change, which has such a crushing effect on the girl’s future.

Music is used to powerful effect in evoking the era. The flexible setting moves between the shop and its flat above with ease. The costumes, especially Mrs Bains’s cardigan over her trousers and shalwar kameez give visual backing to the narrative.

The upbeat ending leaves us with warmth and hopes for all the characters. This is a funny and fast-moving evocation of the immigrant experience that must be familiar to so many in the audience. It is especially appropriate played here in the Midlands.

Cast

Jim/Bill/Tommy – Tommy Belshaw

Mr Bains/Arjan – Jaz Singh Deol

Surinder – Anoushka Deshmukh

Clare/Mrs Flanagan/Reporter – Celeste Dodwell

Mrs Bains – Avita Jay

Kamaljit – Kiran Landa

Ranjit/Tanvir – Omar Malik

Dhanda – Irfan Shamji

Creatives

Writer – Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti

Based on the novel by Sathnam Sanghera

Director – Iqbal Khan

Set & Costume Designer – Good Teeth

Lighting Designer – Simeon Miller

Composer & Sound Designer – Holly Khan

Movement Director – Anjali Mehra

Casting Director – Jatinder Chera

Associate Sound Designer – Anna Wood

Associate Movement Director – Rakhee Sharma

Voice & Dialect Coach – Gurkiran Kaur

Fight & Intimacy Director – Dani Mac

Assistant Director – Harper K Hefferon

Production Manager – Lil Dickson