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Danusia Samal’s play Out of Sorts won the Theatre503 Playwriting Award in 2019, so I was excited to see it staged at the Tower Theatre, with a new (to the company) director, Özlem Taş. Excellent to see so many new faces at the first night – a more diverse audience that reflects the local community is a real positive.
The mood for this poignant examination of a young woman caught between two worlds, Kurdish and English, was set early with a lovely new Kurdish usher who furnished me with a program and dazzling smile – I felt thoroughly welcomed.
The set, designed by Millie Weston and Freya Alexander, showed a clear demarcation between ‘worlds’: clean Scandi white lines and fluffy pink touches for the British side, and sumptuous colours and textures, with traditional wooden furniture, for the Kurdish side. The split down the middle was reflected in the beautiful lighting design by Steven Cox – a cool, sexy bluish tone on the modern London flat (maybe the cool light was a wistful commentary on our grey London summer?) and a warm-toned, roseate glow on the cosy family home. The sofa, placed front and centre, was clearly ‘split’ down the middle with rugs and lighting and this, as a metaphor for the conflict and resolution that was to come, was very neat.
The play opens with Zara’s family bustling around, preparing for her arrival. This opening scene was in Kurdish, but no translation was needed for the perfectly portrayed family dynamic – mother Leyla (Nadine Gharzeddine) laying the table whilst younger daughter Fatma (Trina Bhattacharya) grudgingly assists, and the comfortably rotund Hüseyin (Şükrü Demir) very much the patriarch. Meanwhile, in Alice’s (Lily Walters) picture-perfect flat, a worse-for-wear Zara struggles with a hangover and her impossibly perky flatmate. Lily Walters shines as Alice, Zara’s ‘best friend’. Her successful law career, white middle-class privilege and almost-too-sweet sweetness were well done – there’s nothing to dislike about Alice, really, yet somehow she’s not likeable. Zara is the Robin to her Batman, eternally the sidekick and never the main event. This awkwardness is hinted at early on, but so well-seeded that you can never fully believe in their bond.
When Zara eventually staggers over to her family’s flat, the welcome is suffocating. Zara asks her Mum to speak in English as she has become unused to Kurdish, and the twinge of sadness mixed with pride on Leyla’s face is heartbreaking. In true family style, the traditional bothering of a younger sibling begins immediately, and Zara lays into Fatma about her weight, her bad grades, and her annoying qualities, whilst Fatma immediately spots her sister is hungover and threatens to reveal all to their Muslim parents. Zara’s nausea and discombobulation is vivid, and the time pressure shown by two identical clocks on each side of the stage, counting down until the party back at Alice’s starts (that Zara has promised to return for), make for a tense duality.
Each time Zara mentally (and sometimes physically) crossed between her ‘worlds’ she stands on the dividing line of both sets and some very funky smoke effects, a static drone, and a dull red light showed her internal conflict. Rosie Barwick, also Associate Director of the show, and the multi-talented maestro Matthew Ibbotson were on lighting and sound duties. I should be used to the high technical standard of the Tower by now, but these two are a dream team.
Trina Bhattacharya, playing Fatma, had her work cut out not to steal the show – her comic timing, facial expressions and physicality were a joy to watch. Like all the characters, she keeps secrets, and we the audience - are privy to some of these and that’s when her fully-rounded portrayal shone. The bolshy teenager is eternally the truth-teller in a family dynamic, and Fatma holds this power lightly but wields it devastatingly when the time comes.
Whilst Alice is sending ironic tit pics and demanding Zara’s return, Zara fields awkward questions from her family about her fiancé, her career, and when she’s going to organise her wedding. All this whilst negotiating a meal, generously provided by Stoke Newington’s finest kebab shop, Numara Bos Cirrik. I am amazed those delicious kebabs made it unscathed from backstage! My mouth was watering, but Zara’s was disinclined to eat anything, claiming a varied set of dietary preferences. Since she’d also avoided Alice’s peak-hipster breakfast of (you guessed it) smashed avocado on sourdough, but was allegedly hungover, something didn’t add up, and it wasn’t just the calorie count.
Zara’s dad, Hüseyin, was a multi-layered man of many conflicts. Şükrü Demir’s acting experience was apparent, but Taş’s skillful direction drew out every facet: traditional patriarch, desperate refugee, frustrated UK citizen, loving father and husband, and hard-working taxi driver. His frustration at being less-than in the country that was supposed to be his refuge was all pitch-perfect.
Back to Alice’s slick city pad and the White Trash party is in full swing, yet Zara’s hiding under the kitchen counter with a bowl of crisps and a bottle of Lidl bubbles. Enter Alice’s boyfriend, Anthony (Cedric Dumornay) who Alice has asked to move in, making Zara very much the third wheel. Cedric’s last role at the Tower was in Lily Guy-Vogel’s Swipe, where he portrayed one of Elle’s many toxic beaux. In Out of Sorts he plays the antithesis of this – Anthony is the most wholesome, emotionally intelligent, perfect boyfriend any woman could want. And he’s apparently great in bed. Alice alludes to his ability to satisfy being linked to his race when talking to Zara, but Anthony already feels his ‘token’ blackness – at work, at this party, in his whole life. One gripe about Cedric’s performance is that he sometimes sacrifices volume for intimacy, and I worried about missing his best lines.
What happened next was toe-curling: Alice, perfectly costumed as a cross between Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, tipsily tells Anthony the real truth of how she feels about Zara. Things can only get worse, and they do.
Throughout the plot-building, Zara’s mum, Leyla, captivated me. Nadine Gharzeddine gave a subtle, heartbreaking and delicately nuanced performance showing how her love stitches the family together. Obedient to her husband, who regularly talks over her, dotingly proud of her daughters, Gharzeddine’s elegant acting enthralled me.
As the play lurches towards its climax, Zara’s attempts to control her bifurcated life become ever more frantic. Zara is so vulnerable that she can’t even stand herself, and her valiant battles to justify her life choices to all the important people in her life tie her up in knots. She feels out of place everywhere and Nassima Bouchenak as Zara makes us feel this suffocating pressure. It’s a challenging role, delivering painful lines poignantly without being over-dramatic. Bouchenak inhabits this liminal space without ever tipping over into a too-slick performance.
A special mention should be made for the costumes in Out of Sorts – I was delighted by the innovative and stylish combinations used by Poppy Hill and Lucy White. Every character was dressed perfectly, and my notes say ‘no notes’.
Özlem Taş, assisted by Sarah Assaf, has directed a beautiful play that took me on a journey of heartbreak and family conflict. It sounds like it has a sad ending; it doesn’t. The final homecoming resonates with hope for the future and left me satisfied that, whatever happens next for Zara, she would be OK. I cried again at this point, but they were happy tears.
Photography by Pau Ros
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