The Buddha of Suburbia
Barbican Theatre, London
until 16th November
The Buddha of Suburbia is a riotous, rebellious and provocative novel by British Pakistani author Hanif Kureishi, which won the Whitbread Award for the best first novel. The novel has been translated into 20 languages and was also made into a four-part drama series by the BBC in 1993. It is said to be autobiographical.
It is about Karim, a bisexual mixed-heritage teenager, who is desperate to escape suburban South London and to have new experiences in the capital in the 1970s. He eagerly seizes an unlikely opportunity when a life in the theatre presents itself as a possibility. When there is nothing left for him to do in London, he goes to New York for ten months. Returning, he takes on a part in a TV soap opera and the book leaves its reader on the brink of the 1979 general election just before the Thatcher era begins with the inevitable prospect of high unemployment and high inflation.
Director Emma Rice brings her unique and joyful style to Kureishi’s tender and hilarious novel which explores family, friends, sex, theatre and belonging. Rice is arguably the best director currently working in the UK with a dazzling array of stunning productions filling her CV including the recent, brilliant adaptation of the French folktale Blue Beard, together with ground-breaking versions of Brief Encounter, Rebecca and the wonderful Wuthering Heights.
[The remainder of this review has been redacted]
Photo: Steve Tanner
Editor’s Note:
We apologise that this review was initially published without stating that the reviewer had unknowingly attended a preview performance.
Preview performances are used as a testing round before the official opening to hone into any problems and make improvements. Therefore it is likely that this show was changed before opening night on October 29th.
This was an unintentional error and not something that we condone. The main body of the review has been removed as to not give the wrong impression.
Sammi