By Cal
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V32ISI-BEws
Link with captions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdT5Jp-i8pM&t=0s
Link with audio description: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRADL-ZQb2A&t=0s
Available until: Unknown
Romani Girl is the story of two girls who are friends.
They say they’ll be friends forever, but then one of them meets a boy and
everything changes. Everyone’s experience is unique, but most people have
experienced something like this. It doesn’t even have to be a relationship. A
new job, a new hobby, an old hobby that suddenly asks for a bigger commitment…
there are so many things that can come between you and your friends.
There are a lot of very positive things to say about this story, but I’d like to get the negatives out of the way first. The title refers to the main character’s friend and I’m not sure I would really call her a Romani girl. Her dad, who left years ago, is said to have Romani blood and this might or might not be true, but it doesn’t seem as though there has been a strong Romani influence in her life. Worryingly, this play really emphasises the negative stereotype of Romani gypsies (some of you might be thinking I should say ‘traveller’, but most Romani gypsies seem to prefer ‘gypsy’. I say ‘seem’ as I haven’t met them all). Not all Roma are unreliable. Some work incredibly hard and that’s very important to them – and they don’t all cheat you either. And there are certainly plenty of non-Roma who are unreliable.
If someone is a bad friend, that comes
partly from their personality and partly from their environment. To attribute a
negative characteristic to someone’s ancestry seems like a comment on inherent
characteristics of a particular race. I’m sure there was absolutely no
intention to do that here, but it does feel a bit uncomfortable.
But there are so many wonderful things
about this play, which is written as a monologue, delivered by Aisha, the
friend of the ‘Romani Girl’, Danielle. Ambreen Razia’s writing is powerful. It
tells you so much about the characters and the situations, but it never seems
like too much information and it never seems unnatural for Aisha to mention
these things at the point she does. Everything has been so carefully put
together.
I also love Sita Thomas’ direction.
Aisha spends the whole play walking around the Theatre Royal Stratford East,
showing us different parts of it. It works really well because it tells you so
much about Aisha’s character and the natural energy she has. She could have sat
still and told her story, but I think that would have given a completely
different impression of who Aisha is. Aisha is full of life. She doesn’t like
to be contained. She’s comfortable with who she is. Without all this movement,
I think you could easily have got the opposite impression because there is some
real sadness in her story.
The young performer, Fatima Abukar, is
incredible. Firstly, her physical awareness. There’s one moment where she backs
confidently towards a wall and stops at just the right moment. Even though
she’s delivering a complicated monologue, she knows exactly where she is.
Fatima is also an absolutely brilliant
actor. She creates the character of Aisha so well and delivers the lines
clearly and meaningfully. Aisha seems so warm, likeable and caring, even when
she’s speaking negatively about her friend. Fatima speaks to the camera in a
direct and friendly way, which makes you want to keep listening. There’s a real
authenticity in her performance, you really get caught up in her story. A lot
of actors her age would be referred to as a ‘promising’ talent, but Fatima is
already so good, she’s moved beyond mere ‘promise’ and her charisma is off the
scale.
Whatever my personal reservations,
this is a great piece of theatre.
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