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The Review - THEATRE by TOM FOOT
Published: 23 July 2009

Nitin Kundra, Alexander Andreou and Shereen Martineau in a scene from The Black Album

Fundamentally funny look at faith

PREVIEW: THE BLACK ALBUM
National Theatre

TARA Arts was set up in 1977 on a shoestring to help young black actors get a foothold on the national stage.
Now the “cross cultural” theatre company is teaming up with the National Theatre to produce Hanif Kureishi’s witty stage adaptation of his 1995 novel The Black Album.
It’s 1989 and an Asian student arrives in London from Kent, making some left-leaning liberal friends. Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses changes everything. Shahid is rapt by some Muslim extremists, who aim to steer him away from the decadence of the West.
“We’re not blasted Christians,” they tell him. “We will fight for our people who are being tortured anywhere – in Palestine, Afghanistan, Kashmir, East End!”
Shahid’s radicalisation is offset against his hedonistic relationship with his feminist tutor. “Religion is for the benefit of the masses, not for brain-box types like you,” she tells him. “Those simpletons require strict rules for living, otherwise they would still think the earth sits on three fishes.”
The story considers how the events of 1989 have shaped today’s world, where fundamentalism battles liberalism. Sounds heavy. But the tale is laced with humour and is sure to be expertly produced by Tara Arts.
Until October 7
020 7452 3000

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