The radicalisation of young disenchanted Muslims in western society has become a mainstay of fringe theatre writing of late and perhaps with some justification.Javaad Alipoor has written and presents a loosely woven tale of three such individuals. He explores their stories at the same time as channelling his inner geek, by linking radicalisation to generation Y's utilisation of the internet, dark web and hand-held technology. The result is a slightly muddled narrative in which his best intentions are sometimes realised effectively and, on occasions obscured by the very medium he has chosen to convey his ideas.
Before entering the auditorium, audience members are invited/ press-ganged (depending on your point of view) to join a WhatsApp group, which is used during the performance. As the lights dim, rather than fretting about whether you've turned off your phone, you clutch it eagerly anticipating the magic to come. Soon it begins buzzing with fatuous, frivolous comments from fellow audience members and some more serious observations from the stage. While the trend-bucking novelty value is fun initially and supports some of the more damning assertions of vehement and aggressive online behaviour, it also distracts and obscures Alipoor's message too often.
At its most earnest and thought-provoking, delivery of the meandering text (via computer camera relayed onto a large screen), draws in the audience with a harrowing commentary on Syria and elsewhere, but it also becomes slightly monotonous and this reviewer felt disconnected on several occasions.
There is no doubt that Alipoor's effort is to be applauded, but I suspect the end result would benefit from a television treatment rather than live theatre, where many serious points were trivialised by audience input.
The dance show STOMP has been playing at the Ambassadors Theatre for so long that I haven't been there for years and I had to remind myself where it was. STOMP has now left the building making room for a transfer of this exquisite play by David Eldridge.