Five star review of Dizzy at Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse, Sheffield Theatres

Sera Mustafa as Qamar and Brendan Barclay as Stax in Dizzy. Picture: Chris Saunders.Sera Mustafa as Qamar and Brendan Barclay as Stax in Dizzy. Picture: Chris Saunders.
Sera Mustafa as Qamar and Brendan Barclay as Stax in Dizzy. Picture: Chris Saunders.
Stage: Dizzy Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse Sheffield Crucible Phil Penfold 5/5

He has already been nominated for an Olivier Award (for a debut play, no less), and now we have Mohamed-Zain Dada’s newest offering, which premieres here in South Yorkshire.

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It’s a concise, one-act drama which demands that it is set in the round, so the audience can experience every nuance of every moment. And, quite apart from the script, this is very much a collaborative offering, each member of the production team, and the trio of actors, offers something to the whole, they are all as important to each other. The deft direction from Rob Watt, has as equally as much to deliver as Mwen’s exceptional sound design, Hannah Sibai’s economical and beautifully sparse set, each is hand-in-glove with Jess Brigham’s fluid lighting plot – and so on.

There are two performers – Sera Mustafa as Qamar, a fifteen-years-old mathematical genius, and Brendan Barclay as Stax, a lad who spends his time making his highly visible marks as a defiant graffiti artist. And there’s another contributor to the dialogue, Qamar’s brother, now dead, whose disembodied voice haunts us as the young woman attempts to discover the causes and reasons of his death. This is our Dizzy of the title, poignantly articulated here by Reda Elazouar, but never seen. He doesn’t even take a much-deserved bow at the play’s conclusion, remaining as absent and as enigmatic as he does through the performance. A brave decision by the author, but entirely the right choice.

Sera Mustafa as Qamar and Brendan Barclay as Stax in Dizzy. Picture: Chris Saunders.Sera Mustafa as Qamar and Brendan Barclay as Stax in Dizzy. Picture: Chris Saunders.
Sera Mustafa as Qamar and Brendan Barclay as Stax in Dizzy. Picture: Chris Saunders.

That brief description may give you the impression that we have a play that will only speak to younger audiences, but nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a piece that provokes us all into considering how much we should remember the past, and when we should (in some cases) let go, and look to the future, to move forward.

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When we first meet her, Qamar is at the start of her quest for answers, and when Stax arrives, she is horrified that he is (at first sight) about to desecrate the memory of her sibling. Can there be a connection between the confident Stax and the dead lad? When the red mist of anger over the girl’s eyes (and from the spray cans wielded by Stax) is finally dispersed, motives, reasons and even a curious bonding emerge. It is performed with commendable assurance by such a young cast, there’s no ostentation, just crystal-clear sincerity. A concise, honest (and ambitious) piece of stagecraft.

To October 12.

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