On a February day I found myself at the opening of Community, a new production by Birmingham Rep Theatre. Written by Farrah Chaudhry and directed by Alice Chambers it immersed me in a land of individual stories, with friendship, identity and belongings as prevailing themes. Friends Leyla and Zoya are polar opposites. Zoya is pampered, indulged and lacking purpose, and Leyla is hardworking, dependable and dedicates her time to helping others. Zoya has lived a privileged life in a nice part of Birmingham, whereas Leyla lives on the other side of town with her housemate Khalil, a refugee from Syria.
I remember seeing a production previously at the Rep directed by Alice Chambers and felt before seeing it, it would be a good production.
From my review, I found The staging was simple and effective enabling the story to be told, sometimes the actors broke the third wall with some interaction with audience members,
The production had Sabrina Nabi playing Zoya,Kerena Jagpal as Leyla and Sayyid Aki as Khalil.
Lighting was unobtrusive and lots of sound effects were woven into the production. There was some poignant moments in the production and lots of comedic jokes.Certain jokes were more likely to resonate with a local audience in Birmingham because of their specific references. However, they were not too difficult to understand even for those unfamiliar with the area.
The play had the right pace in terms of the storyline and certain moments stood out more. This play gives audiences a chance to reflect on community, identity and belonging. What does it mean to be in a community and how do we interact with fellow humans?
The actors playing their individual characters were superb, this was Sayyid’s first professional stage debut and he performed very professionally. Both Sabrina and Kerena deserve credit for their strong performances.
I think potentially the ending of the production could have finished better, bringing a conclusion to each character. However, there were subtle indications regarding the future paths each character might take in their lives.
A worthy 4 star show and this is a show I would recommend seeing, hopefully it also progresses further out and makes people aware of societal issues of isolation and teaches each of us about belonging, identity, friendship and community.