Theatre review: Peanut Butter & Blueberries

The Kiln ends the summer, and Indhu Rubasingham's time at the helm, with a very gentle take on the romantic comedy format: Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan's debut play sees a pair of Pakistani-British students at SOAS (a London university specialising in Asian, African and Middle-Eastern studies) who bond over both feeling a long way from home: Hafsah (Humera Syed) is a strict Muslim from Bradford and doesn't believe in dating before marriage - although she also doesn't really believe in marriage anyway, having seen how most of them seem to work out. She initially (accurately) sums up Bilal (Usaamah Ibraheem Hussain) as "the kind of Bilal who lets white people call him Billy," but his strong Pakistani-Brummie accent means she doesn't dismiss him completely: He too is more religious than he initially appears but with complicated feelings on relationships (his entire experience of Pakistani dads is that they leave their families, and he doesn't want to become part of that pattern.)

Taking its title from the sandwich they share in an early bonding moment - and whose contrasting but complementary textures mirror their relationship - Peanut Butter & Blueberries follows the pair from insisting they're not interested in each other, to inevitably acknowledging their flirtation.

What's interesting about Manzoor-Khan using a rom-com template is the way its focus on a particularly religious pair means it has to deviate from the way those stories are usually told. Most obviously perhaps in how chaste the physical relationship has to be - the steamiest interaction is him wiping her glasses for her - but more notable for me was the way the story has to be all-or-nothing, with them going from just-friends straight to marriage proposal. With the couple also being very modern in their speech and politics (Bilal sitting back to enjoy watching Hafsah gently knock down his flatmate's chauvinist arguments is a highlight) the play makes a good effort at showing us people who've found a way to straddle quite different worlds.

Sameena Hussain's production gets charming performances out of the two actors, who between them put the "cute" into "meet-cute," although perhaps to an extent that makes the more serious looks into their backgrounds - Bilal in particular has some major family demons he's trying to escape - jar at times. And Khadija Raza's design including a revolve for an otherwise simple set feels a bit like it doesn't entirely trust how understated the play is. But if it's not world-shaking it's charming, and while rooted in a very specific cultural experience Peanut Butter & Blueberries does have enough universality to let anyone into its world.

Peanut Butter & Blueberries by Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan is booking until the 31st of August at the Kiln Theatre.

Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Oluwatosin Daniju.