It exemplifies the thorough approach of Tamasha theatre company that its first venture into verbatim theatre is such a superb example of the process.
A quartet of fine performers - Nicholas Khan, Divian Ladwa, Chris Ryman and Amit Sharma - give voice to a prepared soundtrack compiled from interviews conducted by Sudha Bhuchar, Kristine Landon-Smith and Louise Wallinger, which is played into their earpieces.
This gives their utterances a spontaneity and naturalism which a memorised script could not approach, as well as producing some hilarious moments as the chaps adopt different personas, many of them female.
Initially, and similarly in its mix of the amusing and the touching, the technique recalls the Creature Comforts of Aardman animations, and the skill the actors demonstrate is really remarkable. In time, though, real characters emerge - an inverted bigot with a Swedish girlfriend, a secretly gay man - and stereotypes are both reinforced and debunked. It seems that the mummy's boy slur can be all too accurate (just ask the daughters-in-law), while the fondness for the bassy boom box in the back of the Toyota is to render any criticism inaudible.
Although it is a real ensemble piece, each performer has his own spot in the limelight and it is not all laughs. Khan delivers a superb analysis about the relationship of British Asians to Pakistan today, culled from the same testimony that contributes a witty description of the mother-in-law's measure of culinary skills.
Staged with minimalist panache, this is a thought-provoking show that is a healthy antidote to the contrived "unscripted" world of racial stereotyping on reality TV.
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