Ashraf (Dana Haqjoo), born in Egypt, longtime resident of Wigan, loves his taxi. Nearly all the 27 scenes of this play are set inside, or close to to, this cab. To be a driver is a type of freedom, and a automobile turns into an extension of a person, a microcosm of their world. However in case you don’t personal your automotive, in case you can not drive, what then? The concepts is probably not new however they're nonetheless highly effective, and the strongest factor on this paint-by-numbers east-meets-west comedy, with its Seventies central-casting roster of characters and distasteful over-reliance on non-native audio system’ idiomatic use of English to boost laughs from the viewers.
Written by Shamia Chalabi – who additionally performs Ashraf’s daughter, Shazia –and Sarah Henley (co-founder of NextUp Comedy standup streaming service), the story is impressed by Chalabi’s personal experiences rising up in Wigan in an Egyptian-British household. Occasions could also be rooted in actuality (Muslim Ashraf’s insistence on Shazia sporting a shawl, for instance), however they should be crafted to attain dramatic impact. Right here, Shazia is in her late-20s at the very least, and dwelling with white, British Chris; such tussles along with her father maintain no actual menace to her independence, nor to their snippy, loving relationship.
If the writing has but to search out its dramatic oomph, the manufacturing does its utmost to ignite the motion. Helen Coyston’s ingenious design, based mostly round 4 cell chairs (as lit by Pablo Fernandez Baz), encourages the viewers’s creativeness to finish the image.
Sepy Baghaei’s route provides full throttle to the actors’ skills, particularly Haqjoo as muddling-through Ashraf; Hemi Yeroham as Shazia’s interfering, strictly observant brother; and Houda Echouafni and Helen Sheals deftly highlighting complementary traits of their contrasting roles as Ashraf’s new, Egyptian Muslim spouse and Wigan-born first spouse.
Habibti Driver is on the Octagon, Bolton, till 7 Might
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