Expect the unexpected? It turns out if you arrive completely unprepared, armed with just the title of the show at hand and no prior expectations at all, that is when you will see the unexpected.
The closing scene could have ruined what may have been a great metaphor with its quite literal interpretation, but it tied up the show nicely and gave a maturely developed poignancy to a creation by a very young team.
Taking our seats in an old college room, surrounded by an audience of proud parents, willing friends and school teachers, it steamed of amateur youth theatre. But, from the moment it began until the genuinely touching flash of dysfunctional family togetherness at the end, this production was far from amateur; youthful, yes but amateur? It would be hard to judge it with such connotations.
Kebab, a completely original show written and directed by those who starred in it was an absolute triumph, yes there were parts that didn’t quite add up and a few misplaced songs but the skill in which they were delivered was outstanding. I would like to say that the actor playing the downtrodden father and brains behind the kebab shop stole the show with his beatboxing, guitar playing and acrobatic wall balancing but his co-stars were really up to the mark.
Following a day (and night) in the lives of three generations of a Turkish kebabs shop, this could have easily gone wrong (unintentional racism, poor accents, hideous stereotyping…) but no, this heart-warming and hilarious piece was more about conjugal relations in a family run business, sad at parts but true at most.
The perfectly choreographed juggling of condiments and the switch between characters was pulled off well. Parts were slightly confusing, I didn’t quite see the relevance of The Lion Sleeps Tonight episode but the charisma of the father and the never strayed from idiocy of the grandfather made it easy to follow and I laughed with them all the way along.
Surveying the parents around me as I sat in the audience, I couldn’t help but cringe at the references to the grandfather’s privates and the Sudocrem, particularly as he was considerably older than the other two cast members; nonetheless, it got a giggle out of the younger members of the crowd.
The closing scene could have ruined what may have been a great metaphor with its quite literal interpretation, but it tied up the show nicely and gave a maturely developed poignancy to a creation by a very young team.
