Tag Archives: Safiyya Ingar

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“King Troll (the Fawn)” at the New Diorama Theatre

Sonali Bhattacharyya adds an ingenious element to her story about immigration. After sisters Nikita and Riya, in danger of deportation, visit an odd family friend, Riya gains the power to create a supernatural creature to help her. Director Milli Bhatia emphasises every spooky and funny moment of this original idea; the Hiran, translated as fawn in English, is the making of the play.

Zainab Hasan and Safiyya Ingar, who play the sisters, are superb at grounding the action, especially given more than a few jump scares. The siblings’ relationship is convincing at the start and both performers are strong comedians. That said, Ayesha Dharker gets even more laughs and has a great night playing two wonderful villains. First Dharker is the witchy Shashi and then a smart landlady who has put up the rent: the question arises as to who scares us more.

There’s fun with the spooky creature too, along with the pointed fact that he is white and serves as a “sponsor” for Riya’s immigration claim. She calls him Jonathan (which really tickled me) and says they need him to be “slick but bland”. But Jonathan is scary too; Dominic Holmes makes the part appropriately creepy, aided by verses spoken off stage. And Ingar makes sure we fear for her character – having a pet psychopath at your beck and call isn’t fun. 

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Diyar Bozkurt and Zainab Hasan

Bhattacharyya wants to make other important points. Nikita works with migrants and their trials – including interviews and working conditions – are articulated through the character of Tahir, given a heartfelt depiction by Diyar Bozkurt. If Tahir seems to belong to a different play, Bhatia makes a virtue of that by emphasising the contrasting scenes. Maybe, with so much going on, adding romance for both sisters might not be needed.

There’s some clunky dialogue (that the location of the play isn’t specified doesn’t help) as well as moralising moments. And too many puzzling questions. It isn’t clear why Jonathan turns out to be right wing (surely his papers aren’t in order either?). Or why Riya becomes so vindictive: if power has corrupted her, that needs prepping. The play starts to buckle under its own ambition with an unnecessary twist set in the future. But King Troll (The Fawn) is entertaining, memorable, and easy to rate as a four-star show.

Until 2 November 2024

www.newdiorama.com

Photos by Helen Murray

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“The Child in the Snow” at Wilton’s Music Hall

Who doesn’t love a ghost story at Christmas? With London’s oldest surviving music hall as a venue, director Justin Audibert’s show has a great start – even a chill in the auditorium adds to the atmosphere.

Based on a story by Elizabeth Gaskell, writer Piers Torday’s tale isn’t that scary. Despite a seance in progress, in an abandoned house no less, it is the past that haunts the strong and spirited Hester. The Child in the Snow is a good yarn, well performed. 

The action is set in 1918, which makes sense in terms of the fashion for spiritualism and as a specific moment in the history of Britain’s Empire. The theme of a colonial past is handled well and proves thought-provoking.

Maybe there’s too much trauma for young Hester? Returning to her childhood home to deal with her amnesia, she also has her experience as a nurse in France to deal with. Furthermore, there’s a lot of narration for the character. The descriptions are fine, but jar with the action of the seance underway. Safiyya Ingar, who takes the role of Hester, deserves praise. 

The script’s clunky moments don’t hold back Debbie Chazen, who is excellent. Her Mrs Leonard, the Cockney medium Hester hires, is a delight. The comedy is superbly handled and the accent a real study. When Mrs Leonard’s usual spirit guide, a temperamental solicitor called Gerald, doesn’t appear, Chazen impresses more and more by taking on all the play’s other characters.

There are big problems with the off and on nature of the seance that structures the show. Ingar does well: retreating into her character’s childhood and convincing us as to the urgency of her search into the past. There’s a neat magic trick, a good set by Tom Piper, and strong lighting design Jess Bernberg. But it is really Chazen and her consistently strong comic touches that power the performance. While you might question laughing too much in a ghost story, she draws us into the action with great skill and saves a stumbling show.

Until 31 December 2021

www.wiltons.org.uk

Photo by Nobby Clarke

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“The Box of Delights” at Wilton’s Music Hall

Taking up the challenge of Christmas entertainment for a second year running, award-winning writer Piers Torday’s adaptation of John Mansfield’s classic novel is a children’s show with lots of imagination and energy. As our hero Kay, with his chums Mariah and Peter, battle to save Christmas from the claws of an evil magician and a pack of wolves, this show should keep even the most restless of pre-teens engaged. It’s a great introduction to theatre which is, of course, a fantastic gift to give.

Director Justin Audibert is artistic director of the Unicorn Theatre, which focuses on work for younger audiences, and his expertise shows. There’s a mix of simple, effective tricks (especially around the cast taking multiple roles) alongside some impressive video projections from Nina Dunn. As is de rigueur, puppetry is added and there’s a set full of surprises from Tom Piper that culminates in a strong finale. Some of the adult characters we meet aren’t that interesting, and pepping them up through performance has mixed success. Those who play the younger roles have abetter time: Theo Ancient tackles a very dated kind of hero superbly, Safiyya Ingar is good as the tomboy Mariah (let’s skip over her penchant for weaponry), and Samuel Simmonds get some extra laughs out of his bookish character. The real delight, though, is the villains, with Nigel Betts in a silk dressing gown, and especially Sara Stewart, who clearly came top of the class in evil laughs at drama school – a deliciously enviable skill not to be sniffed at.

As for the adaptation, Torday focuses on the adventure story and the result is so fast paced it doesn’t always make sense, even if it’s exciting enough. A gamble seems to have been taken that people know the story, or at least recognise elements within it that have proved so influential on subsequent children’s fiction. Some of this can drag and start to look silly if you’ve any humbug about you. But there’s a lot of fun with the source material as a period piece, with the cast playing youngsters working especially well here. There’s some great slang (scrobble for kidnap) and Ancient has an expert line in wide-eyed naivety. The second act really picks up and becomes much funnier so that, overall, the show makes good its claim of being “a fine tale for Christmas”.

Until 6 January 2019

www.wiltons.org.uk

Photo by Nobby Clark