Review: Sweetmeats (Bush Theatre)

Review by Sam Waite

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So many love stories, whether or not their central characters end up together, centre on youthful, conventionally “vibrant” protagonists. What fiction often fails to represent is that romance matures as those experiencing it do, leaving endless possibilities for new stories as people grow older, more settled into their lives. In Sweetmeats, having its world premiere at London’s Bush Theatre, Karim Khan delicately explores how both age and culture can reshape a love story.

Hema is going through the motions of the type 2 diabetes course she attends weekly, clearly growing weary of being told how to cut down her sugars by sugarless tea-drinking, but shortbread-scarfing, Mrs Radcliffe. Dubbing herself the “scary Indian lady,” she is taken aback by the brazenness of “irritating Pakistani man” Liaquat, who drops into the seat beside her and seems not to be taking the course seriously at all. As the weeks go by, she begins to warm to him, but his desire to build a friendship is blatant, awkward, and endearing from the offset.

Karim Khan’s characters reflect their 60-plus age, lived-in and having long since abandoned the need for certain touches of socially mandated politeness. Hema is passive aggressive not because she can’t just say what it is she feels Liaquat needs to hear, but because she knows full well that he knows better and shouldn’t need to be told. Likewise, Liaquat has put aside social etiquette and awkward introduction, throwing himself full force into new interactions, and calmly answering back where one might expect him to shrink away. Not only do these stark differences make for a dynamic first meeting, but allow the audience a clear view of who each of them is long before backstories come more firmly into play.

Shobu Kapoor and Rehan Sheikh, as Hema and Liaquat respectively, are as well-matched onstage as their characters are awkwardly combined. Once the initial growing pains of their friendship have dissipated, an easy chemistry between Kapoor and Sheikh is revealed, which allows for their characters to palpably fall for one another across the course of these weekly meetings. Both play stubbornness, a sense of being stuck in one’s ways, in different ways – Kapoor and Sheikh allow us to see how similar they can be, without ever shattering the illusion that they see nothing but stark difference with their course partner.

To pick at the most minor of critiques, I couldn’t help but feel the introductions to several of the diabetes sessions, in which Hema speaks directly to the audience about the ongoing saga of Mrs Radcliffe and her shortbread dependency, felt disconnected from the rest of the text. This isn’t to say that they weren’t wholly entertaining, nor that Shobu Kapoor did anything less than an excellent job in bringing a continuously engaging energy to these short monologues – still, with such monologuing absent outside of these moments, and neither Hema or Liaquat acting as a narrator elsewhere, the effect could be jarring at times.

As if often the case with the Bush Theatre’s main-space productions, Sweetmeats has a strong, immediate visual identity. Rather than awkwardly rearrange set pieces or ask that we imagine the next location, every place these characters need to inhabit is visible from the offset, spread across the stage. Aldo Vázquez has dressed what little we see of their homes in such familiar textures and patterns, as if you’ve simply wandered into your grandparents’ home, and the overlapping of kitchen, garden, and outdoor routes to the oft-revisited classroom allow for a sense of separation even as these characters visually, as well as emotionally, overlap continually. Vázquez also dresses the characters in familiar clothing, bringing to life real people you may walk past daily on the street, reminding us that they are a mature, experienced pair who have already lived more life than many romantic protagonists.

Director Natasha Kathi-Chandra uses this design to her advantage, adding a constant sense of motion to the proceedings, with Liaquat and Hema often passing one another on their separate routes to the course meetings, showing how close they are to forming a more fruitful connection. Kathi-Chandra’s guidance of the performances is subtle, allowing genuine humanity to be the guiding force and for the conversations to feel wholly natural, and letting Kapoor and Sheikh’s chemistry to shine bright. Mateus Daniel’s movement direction also ensures we never forget the maturity or health struggles of these characters, and further builds the duo’s endless familiarity.

There are, as you might expect, moments where Liaquat’s health in particular looms as a genuine threat. These moments are where the lighting and sound design, by Simeon Miller and Hugh Sheehan respectively, become most prominent and most effective. Sharp changes to the overhead lighting and ominous sound clue us in to just how dangerous the situation is, even as Liauat works to keep Hema from excessive worry. The pair’s work is subtler elsewhere, but no less effective, with recordings from Liaquat’s past a central part of his story, and the muted (more so for Hema) lighting of their homes adding endless character to the proceedings.

In a world of Romeo and Juliets, a world in which youth is so often connected with the genre, a slowly-building, gently felt romance between these two older characters is more than welcome. With light sparring between their respective backgrounds an early element, and differing attitudes towards their health a constant, Sweetmeats brings a refreshing quality to the genre, reminding us that no part of life needs to end at a certain age, and that maturity can in fact add new depths and beautiful layers to falling in love. While many have found their first taste of romance with Shakespeare’s titular pair, with Edward and Bella, Cathy and Heathcliff, I’d argue that there’s as much passion, as much genuine connection to be found in Hema and Liaquat, a couple whose story is rarely told but touchingly familiar.

Sweetmeats plays at the Bush Theatre until March 21^st

For tickets and information visit https://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/event/sweetmeats/

Photos by Craig Fuller