THE BOLT HOLE. To 2 March.

Birmingham/Wolverhampton

THE BOLT HOLE
by Arzhang Pezhman

The Door, Birmingham Rep. To 18th February then
Wolverhampton Arena 1-2 March 1pm & 7.30pm
Runs 1hr 20mins No interval

TICKETS: 01902 321321 (Wolverhampton)
Review: Kim Durham 7 February At Birmingham Rep (The Door)

Deep moral explorations in a youth orientated show
Director Nick Bagnall follows up his previous splendidly high octane production Low Dat with another challenging youth orientated show for Birmingham Rep. Developed through work with young people in Birmingham and the Black Country, The Bolt Hole offers an uncompromising view of the tensions of current multi-racial inner-city life.

In a run down youth club, the testy friendship between Asif and Nick is disrupted by two new arrivals, Somali brother and sister Asad and Deka. It's characteristic of writer Arzhang Pezhman's morally complex play that it is the Pakistani British Asif who is the first to wave the racist card at the newcomers.

Each character has a backstory. Asif is a school refuser. Nick has a racist father of whom he's deeply ashamed. Youth club manager George – in a humane, troubled performance by Karl Stimpson – is an ex-convict possibly with a drink problem. And what horrors Deka and Asad have escaped from is only darkly hinted at. With each of the characters the writing never offers us an easy or melodramatic dotting of i's and crossing of t's. It is largely left to our own imaginations to fill in the gaps.

Part of Pezhman's intention would seem to be to demonstrate that the issues that arise through this mix are anything but straightforward. Friendship, honesty, race, family invite sometimes competing loyalties. And dealing with people whose worlds we only dimly understand is hard. Nicolas Woodman as Nick in particular, rarely emerging from beneath his hoodie, nevertheless manages to convey the struggle to find the moral compass needed to navigate these cross currents. In a striking and surprising exchange, it is the young Somali girl Deka who reminds him of the filial obligation owed even to a racist father.

Ashwin Bolar, all flash insecurity as Asif; Yusra Wasama, beautifully conveying a poise masking great inner turmoil and Charles Mnene in a remarkable stage début of simmering, hair trigger menace complete a committed cast.

At times one craves a deeper exploration and working out of the tangle of conflicts that The Bolt Hole sets up. But that's also its strength. This is a play that poses a number of difficult moral questions and refuses to answer them. It leaves us with a recognition of the hard truth that such questions rarely have straightforward answers.

Asad: Charles Mnene
Asif: Ashwin Bolar
Deka: Yusra Wasama
George: Karl Stimpson
Nick: Nicolas Woodman

Director: Nick Bagnall
Designer: Colin Richmond
Lighting: Simon Bond

2006-02-09 10:02:49