Everything Theatre Reviews, interviews and news for theatre lovers, London and beyond
A crafted articulation of grief that beautifully recognises the existence of life even in death.Summary
Rating
Excellent
Grief is a difficult subject to broach for any age group, but Dizzy by Mohamed-Zain Dada (Zain) at the Half Moon Theatre is an intelligent, moving and at times humorous example of writing about it for teenagers.
Qamar’s (Sera Mustafa) brother Yaseen has died and she’s struggling to make sense of it. Did he fall or was he pushed? Might he have jumped? When she goes to lay flowers at the site where he died, she comes across a graffiti artist, Stax (Brendan Barclay), spraying on the wall and confronts him, calling him a criminal. But what she considers vandalism he sees as a tribute. He reveals that he painted with her brother and he knew him as Dizzy. Theirs is a story that explores things that we know and don’t know, offering a reassuring recognition of presences that change; that exist in life and even beyond death.
Directed by Rob Watt, this is a well-paced, thought-provoking work that combines poignant drama, humanity and laughter to examine a complex variety of themes. Zain’s writing crafts a space in which grief becomes the connecting point for an unlikely relationship between two strangers invisibly linked by someone who is no longer there. The play sensitively discusses grief, crime, ethics, mental health and cultural differences, putting these diverse issues into the same frame, using theatre to manifest emotions for us to consider with clarity. Ultimately, it demonstrates how life and death fit within a space of connectivity and temporal movement, and how things and people are all, at an atomic level, part of a universe of existence, just in changing forms.
Mustafa and Watt portray a sensitive, believable friendship as the two characters of different generations and cultures take time to learn about each other and use each other’s languages. Here the vocabulary is that of maths and of graffiti; science and arts. This odd juxtaposition in an unexpected space is gently humorous, as they blunder into making friends using cultural references from their different worlds that each then has to make an effort to ‘translate’. Mustafa in particular uses impressive physicality to give shape to Qam’s confused, agonised thinking, snapping disjointedly in and out of moments when she’s in her head, whilst the voice of her brother (Reda Elazouar) still communicates with her, making him reassuringly present after death.
Hannah Sibai’s compact, colourful design – ideal for a touring production – makes multiple locations imaginable in a small space, and is supported by textured and interesting lighting design from Jess Brigham. An opening grate that emits haze into a coloured space offers visually interesting ideas of access as Qam actively explores her brother’s story. The whole works well with a distinct and evocative soundscape by Mwen that gives substance to an assortment of settings.
Dizzy is an entertaining and hugely positive reflection on grief. It’s a great example of what theatre does best, beautifully articulating how loss might feel whilst creating a poetic, reassuring space to recognise its changing shape within time, along with the knowledge that we can exist beyond it.
A Theatre Centre and Sheffield Theatres Production.
Written by: Mohamed-Zain Dada
Directed by: Rob Watt
Design by: Hannah Sibai
Sound Design by: Mwen
Movement Direction by: Yami Löfvenberg
Lighting Design by: Jess Brigham
Dizzy is aimed at ages 13+ and plays at the Half Moon Theatre until Saturday 16 November. Further information and booking are available here.
