White Man's Burden

Thoughtful and gently provocative on the subject of ethnicity, Inder Manocha has reached middle age feeling disconnected and alienated from his Asian roots; but not feeling quite white either, despite his passion for white playwrights, women and surreptitiously fitting in. Only when he was invited to perform at a diversity workshop in his home of Wembley, and challenged for not being “broud” enough (proud of being brown), did he begin to consider the full ramifications of his racial heritage.

Dictated to by the twin, opposing voices in his head of Bernard Manning and his father's accountant, Mr Patel, he's further flummoxed by his family's emotional constipation, casting around for any kind of grip on his identity. Probing at the implications of well-meaning and politically correct but egotistical multiculturalism, he foregrounds and seeks to address his own prejudices, cultural snobbery and occasional, dubious motivations for tolerance of others, offering a complex, layered portrait of a conflicted individual.

Manocha is perceptive and persuasive on the racial logic underpinning shows like Mock The Week, but a little too fond of gratuitous similes and grasping for the gag, when in fact the strength of his show lies in the storytelling. Quite how successfully he resolves all his conundrums is a moot point, especially as therapy's been no help to him. Even so, he offers a nicely-judged application of the spontaneity of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech to his situation, appreciating that every journey begins with a first step.