Lifted

A man is in an interrogation room being questioned by the police. Suddenly, with a change of lighting, we’re inside his head, hearing his rambling thoughts. This monologue by Sara Shaarawi and Henry Bell alternates between these two modes, and as the questioning becomes more intense the character retreats further inside his own memories.

Shaarawi and Bell dig into questions of race and nationality—this character is a Scottish Pakistani Muslim, the friend he’s being questioned about is Kuwaiti—as well as police brutality. There are some interesting moments as we get absorbed into the stream of consciousness, and an unusual plot twist, but it needs to be less heavy-handed. 

Ikram Gilani slightly overplays his character: the facial expressions too big, the voice reaching too hard for expression and finding falseness instead. It’s just a bit too over-stylised.

And the interrogation room scenes fall down because this is a one-person show, so Gilani has to repeat the police questions before answering. “What did I say to him? I said…” or “How do I know him? We met at…” It’s clunky, as are the changes in lighting, and both need a bit of polish to make it more natural. 

There are clearly big, knotty things this play wants to say. A bit of finessing, and Lifted could be a powerful way of saying them.