Shades

Description

'How religious are you? I never know how to answer that question. I mean how do you measure religiousness?' London worships many gods, but it often seems that Cupid isn't one of them. Sabrina, a single girl-about-town, is seeking Mr Right in a world where traditional and liberal brothers sit side-by-side, but rarely see eye-to-eye. Shades explores tolerance within and without the Muslim community. A programme text edition published to coincide with the world premiere at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 28 January 2009.

Shades is Alia Bano's first play and is being performed as part of the Royal Court Young Writers Programme. This aims to develop new voices with their bi-annual festival and year-round development work for writers under the age of 26.

'Alia Bano's play is something of a theatrical first: it tells us what it is like to be a young, single Muslim woman living in modern London... The play is a plea for common sense and mutual understanding.' * Michael Billington, Guardian, 6.2.09 * 'Bano...has a great ear for natural speech idioms and sharp turns of phrase.' * Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times, 7.2.09 * 'Boasting the digestibility of a rom-com and the roughage of an issues drama, Alia Bano's tale of London Muslims looking for love is a superb start to the Royal Court's Young Writers Festival... Like most good rom-com folk, Bano's characters are smart, headstrong, witty and self-aware. That they happen to be both united and divided by their background gives Bano her story... The play's great achievement is to be engagingly irreverent while knowing that irreverence can be an orthodoxy too . . . Reza . . . says he resents being asked to choose between Britishness and being a Muslim. Such sentiments have been expressed before, but rarely with the propulsive plotting, inspiring intelligence and light touch of this hugely enjoyable play.' * Dominic Maxwell, The Times, 5.2.09 * 'Shades turns out to be something both special and unexpected - a Muslim Bridget Jones's Diary... Bano's delightful play...offers a much-needed reminder that not all Muslims are followers of Jihadish mullahs... The play proves delightfully fresh, funny and touching, as well as a genuine eye-opener into the different attitudes of British Muslims... Shades proves a feelgood gem of a rom-com, deftly combining an insider's revealing insight into Islamic Britain with cracking entertainment values.' * Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 10.2.09 * 'A memorable debut.' * Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard, 17.2.09 *