As the title suggests this show is about unlikely combinations. Bilal and Hafsah have some things in common: dysfunctional families, the university experience and trying to find a place between their Pakistani heritage and their British identity. They are also quite different. She is a somewhat snobbish, self-satisfied adolescent intellectual, while he struggles as a student and is emotionally volatile. An unlikely pair – but the audience knows where this is going. The two characters also have equally complex internal issues to reconcile. He is torn between his duty to his family and his desire to make his own way in the world. She is seeking a path between her feminism and her faith, which seems to lead to overcompensating with the latter to justify the former. Playwright Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan delineates the developing relationship between the two with lots of insight and considerable humour, and she has created characters who engage the audience and are for the most part touchingly credible. However, while Hafsah's naïveté in their relationship makes sense, given Bilal's background, his seems to rather stretch credulity. Nevertheless, both Humera Syed and Usaamah Ibraheem Hussain nicely capture not only their characters, but those of their friends and confidantes. The couple's gradual growing together and reliance upon each other is not only believable, it is definitely moving. Sameena Hussain's direction draws nicely modulated performances from the cast and is never static, but the use of the running sequences seems a little trite. Nevertheless, Peanut Butter & Blueberries proves to be a very satisfying combination of comedy and perspicacity.
Rated: ★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Oluwatosin Daniju
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