BELLS. To 14 May.
London
BELLS
by Yasmin Whittaker Khan
Southwark Playhouse In rep to 14 May 2005
Mon-Sat 730pm
Runs 2hr 15min One interval
TICKETS: 020 7620 3494
Review: Timothy Ramsden 22 April
Socially valuable drama with a hard case but a soft centre.Along with Azma Dar's Chaos, Kali Theatre Company bring this disenchanted view of UK Asian Mujra clubs to Southwark. Bells, the mujra in Yasmin Whittaker Khan's play, is jointly run by Madam and Ashraf, whose own relationship veers around desire and hate.
Madam compares her establishment with lap-dancing clubs (minty-minty hippo); there's surface elegance and politeness amid which provocative dancing women and transvestites parade for money thrown by alcohol-happy customers. But something less savoury lurks below.
Those who know their mujras will be on more certain ground. But a play shouldn't rely on prior knowledge. How frequent is the connection between dancing and sex evident here? Are the clubs widely connected to the kidnapping and prostitution racket revealed in the play? Is Khan presenting the exception or the rule?
There's little to go on, as Bells never refers to any dancers other than the pair we meet. Despite the sex-for-sale atmosphere, both these have a stake in true-love, and a friendly working relationship. Transvestite Pepsi's in love with the boss, who finds him more womanly than any woman. And Aiesha's clearly going to fall through her it's-only-for-money-I'm really-a-whore line for the innocent, British-as-can-be loser-lover Charles. It's signified, significantly, when she tears the imprisoning dancer's bells from her ankles.
With all this love around, the darker notes take on a melodramatic strain. Aiesha was abducted to settle her father's debt back in Pakistan. The production goes all-out in sympathy for her, with her literary taste and poetic dreaminess - plus the beauty and suffering in Shivan Ghai's performance.
Setting the club over Ashraf's butcher-shop offers further significance; Matthew Wright's set pointedly folds out from the blood-spattered white tiles of the shop to the ornate blue elegance of Bells. Sharona Sassoon has her own fondness for the profitable Aiesha; both she and Nicholas Khan's Ashraf vividly show the contrast between their pleasant and threatening sides.
The hidden horrors, enforced by threats over visas and retribution back in Pakistan, are brutally clear. But Khan's point remains unclear; are all the likes of Bells situated over metaphorical butcheries? I think we should be told.
Charles: Damian Asher
Pepsi: Marc Elliott
Aiesha: Shivan Ghai
Ashraf: Nicholas Khan
Madam: Sharona Sassoon
Director: Poonam Brah
Designer: Matthew Wright
Lighting: Chris Corner
Composer: Sayan Kent
Choreographer: Kella Panay
Dramaturg: Penny Gold
Assistant director: Pia Furtado
2005-04-25 18:13:06