Review: THE BELIEVERS ARE BUT BROTHERS, Bush Theatre

Our current political climate is unpredictable, to say the least. Old orders are collapsing, and new regimes are emerging. Masculinity is in crisis, and young males find themselves searching for an identity and sense of belonging. Riding high from his Fringe First winning success, Javaad Alipoor brings his Edinburgh hit The Brothers Are But Believers to London.

When arriving at the Bush you are immediately added into a WhatsApp group along with your fellow theatregoers. Having a smartphone seems to be essential; as without it you'll miss a lot of the juicy content that happens throughout the 60-minute production.

Alipoor's idea of utilising WhatsApp as a tool for communication is really interesting. Tonight, the group chat was on fire; but this could possibly be because it's press night and the majority of the audience know one another, meaning the banter was on fine form. On an average evening, I wonder whether it would be as exciting. Who knows?

Regardless, the dialogue envelops the audience into the twisted channels of social media, making us in a way complicit to what happens on the dark web. Alipoor's delivery is charming. We want to engage, and happily go along with his plight. He may seem unsure during his performance, but in some ways this adds to the overall appeal of the production.

However, despite being initially exciting, the multimedia aspect of the production quickly becomes jarring. As an audience we are quickly distracted by all of the different screens available, and therefore unsure as to what to focus on. For this reason the themes of the piece are lost quickly.

It's an interesting and bold experiment, however with this bravery comes a lot of risk, and I'm not sure it fully pays off. Alipoor does provide an interesting argument, yet it unfortunately falls short due to the overwhelming amount of technology present.

The Believers Are But Brothers at the Bush Theatre until 10 February

Photo credit: The Other Richard

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