AD | Tickets gifted in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.
(Photo Credit: Chris Saunders)
Theatre Centre is back with a new show called ‘Dizzy’ currently playing in the Sheffield Theatres smaller space ‘Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse’ written by Mohamed-Zain Dada and directed by Rob Watt. ‘Dizzy’ tackles on how to look for answers to help with grief.
Dizzy follows young Qamar, who looks for the answers, after her brother ‘Dizzy’s’ death. Qamar meets graffiti artist and unknown friend and mentor to her brother Stax. Stax takes Qamar on a journey through the world of graffiti where she discovers the ‘Axis’ where the answers begin to show.
Written by Mohamed-Zain Dada, Dada writes for young adults, with a book that they will relate to and have an understanding with. Dada writes with relevant dialogue adding in references from social media trends, which are comedic and do get laughs from the audience, but personally for me the comedy felt slightly overloaded within the first 15-20 minutes with jokes feeling that they were piled on top of each other, I felt that they needed to be distributed across the piece rather than having them one after another. Dada writes greatly for both older and younger perspectives but still keeping it to the target audience. Dada writes Stax (Played by Brendan Barclay) with most of the jokes that are about social media allowing the character to pretend to be ‘cool’ which again do get laughs and the character feels quite laid back. Dada also writes Qamar (Played by Sera Mustafa) as being determined, and almost driven to find what she wants to know when looking for answers and also wanting a ‘tag’ for her brother to be remembered by, alongside keeping her faith and religion close to her. The two characters are written well, but for me personally I would have liked a little more about Stax and the friendship he and Dizzy (Voiced by Reda Elazouar) had and how he saw him. To me we don’t get much of that and the biggest piece of info we got was near the end of the show, as I feel that it would of helped slightly with some of the emotional messages of the piece for me, but I do see the way it was written was to provide a tone so it wasn’t too heavy, but for me I needed more to help me imagine who Dizzy really was at home and when he was graffitiing. The show is quick paced with Dada writing a good script by keeping it relevant and funny which for many will enjoy and while also having emotion. Dada writes good characters, and a good story which could be relevant for many.
Directed by Rob Watt, Watt directs the show well, with also having a helping hand from movement director Yami Löfvenberg. Watt's direction is energetic at times, as well as providing clear differences from location to location, from real world to the graffiti world, without any addition of set pieces. With help from Löfvenberg, in adding movement to the piece, it supports the different worlds/places and by the addition of the soundscape by Mwen and Löfvenberg’s work tie in effectively well together both sides and helps decisiveness of the worlds we see in the piece, with the movement being executed well by Mustafa. Watt shows reality nicely and Löfvenberg’s movement is lovely.
(Photo Credit: Chris Saunders)
On stage cast members, Brendan Barclay and Sera Mustafa, both work well together showing their characters well with both having good energy. Barclay is funny and is great taking on the role of Stax, who definitely shows how he mentors and guides Qamar through her journey.
Sera Mustafa plays Qamar, Mustafa pushes the goal she wants, which is answers and something for her to remember her brother by, while also showing the importance of religion to her throughout. Mustafa has good movement when displaying Löfvenberg’s direction. With both having fine performances throughout.
The set created by Hannah Sibai which presents us with three colourful blocks in different sizes that are tiered and stacked on top of each other. Centred in the middle of the performance space with a hole in the middle of the top block that could be opened and allowed lighting and smoke to come out, it's simple, uncomplicated and suits the show.
Dizzy has some good moments, and does try to find ways that will support the message it wants to get over to its audience through Dada’s book, which is supported by the direction. While its creativeness is in its design elements which are very good, it unfortunately doesn’t hit all the marks that it could have done. I enjoyed the show and do feel it delivered a different way to deal with grief, which yes will work for some. Dizzy is a show that will be liked by audiences because of the different approach on how the younger generation deal with loss.
★★★
Dizzy is playing at the Sheffield Theatres in the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse until the 12th of October.
(Photo Credit: Chris Saunders)
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