RYMAN AND THE SHEIKH. To 5 October.
Birmingham
RYMAN AND THE SHEIKH
by Sudha Bhuchar, Kristine Landon-Smith, Chris Ryman, Rehan Sheikh and Richard Vranch
Tamasha Theatre Company at The Door, Birmingham Repertory Theatre October 1-5
Runs 1hr 5min No interval
Review Timothy Ramsden 4 October
Theatre meets stand-up comedy in this amiable show.Here we are then, at the easy-glamour roadshow for the latest British Asian cable TV channel. Fronting the presentation, with its interactive opportunities for questions, are Ryman – West London street-wise, lithe and mouthy - plus the portly, pompous Sheikh, mega-star of sub-continental cinema, where he's played every conceivable variety of love-torn hero.
This pair play comically off one another, interrupting their patter to announce the wonderful shows they'll be bringing us – mouthwatering prospects such as the property programme 'Upwardly Moghul'.
Ryman's the one with the questions – and the answers. After some amiable picking-on innocent audience members he shows he can take the spontaneity himself. Asked if he'd like a love marriage or arranged marriage, there's no delay. 'Arranged marriage. I'll arrange it. And I'll love it.' Perhaps he'd been asked that one before.
Sheikh's more calculating, consistently self-conscious, assuming any sound of a batting eyelid could be a camera shutter snapping him up again. He's happy to exploit the audience involvement, offering an attractive young woman the chance of a personal audition for a forthcoming project. The supercool goes only once, facing the pomp-pricking oral subtitles Ryman provides to the star's replay of a favourite celluloid scene.
The show – which seems somewhat different in detail from the blurb in Birmingham's season brochure (the delight of devised theatre, it goes on redevising itself) – is a good laugh and lightly touches on styles of celebrity and its self-importance, traditionally recognisable with Sheikh's self-glamour, new-kid upfront in Ryman's cheery self-confidence – the lad who's always willing to help out a celeb. clothes designer by trying out their threads.
This double act could run and run. They've a specifically British Asian context, but the appeal and the laughs sweep over all the ethnic diversity Birmingham's audience provides.
Performers:
Chris Ryman
Rehan Sheikh
2002-10-09 11:31:55