Review Roundup: PEANUT BUTTER AND BLUEBERRIES at the Kiln Theatre

Peanut Butter and Blueberries, a debut play from Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, is currently running at the Kiln Theatre through August 31. 

The production stars Usaamah Ibraheem Hussain and Humera Syed.

Hafsah and Bilal are not looking for love. She has her faith, her books, her dreams. Bilal…well he’s just trying to get through uni. Studying in London, they find common ground over a peanut butter and blueberry sandwich. 

See what the critics are saying...

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Louise Penn, BroadwayWorld: It is extremely refreshing to see a play about the British Muslim experience where trauma and tradition are, of course, acknowledged, but are not the main focus of the drama. Outside forces do impact on our choices and form barriers, but the 'what if' remains tantalising.

This is a touching and sweet story, and as this is Manzoor-Khan's first play, it will be fascinating to see what she tackles next.

David Jays, The Guardian: There’s as much direct address as dialogue: perhaps too much, as the characters narrate their thoughts rather than test them with each other. Manzoor-Khan is a poet so it’s no surprise her text carries salt and darting lyricism. But she’s also an activist, unpicking Islamophobia. Public paranoia and the heavy-handed Prevent strategy shape the action.

Bronagh, Theatre and Tonic: Peanut Butter and Blueberries is a charming show and certainly a promising debut from Monzoor-Khan, who I cannot wait to see other works by. It isn’t ground breaking theatre, but also doesn’t claim to be. Instead, this is a simple love story with two characters whose relationship we root for more and more as the show progresses. 

Clive Davis, The Times: The performances are gently persuasive. Humera Syed is particularly impressive as Hafsah, a hijab-wearing Bradford feminist who is immersed in a master’s in gender studies (groan) at London University’s Soas. There, she finds herself drawn to down-to-earth Brummie Bilal (Usaamah Ibraheem Hussain) even though she disapproves of the way he allows others to call him “Billy” — it is, she sniffs, his way of seeking “white approval”.

Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out: Despite Khadija Raza’s revolving set, Sameena Hussain’s production feels overly static, with not a huge amount going on physically and much of the dialogue consisting of the characters narrating. The characters are winning, but sometimes feel like sketches, lacking in meat in some areas – there’s a whole plot strand about Hafsah’s seemingly bright future as a science fiction author that feels weirdly under-discussed between the two. Usaamah Ibraheem Hussain’s puppyish but volatile turn as Bilal and Humera Syed’s bookish but low-key sassy Hafsah are enjoyable, but heavier-weight performances might have given Hussain’s production extra heft and depth.  

Beth Bowden, All That Dazzles: The play also touches on the everyday, overt and pervasive effects of Islamophobia and structural racism in the UK. These stories are not the whole focus of the work, but instead form a part of the context within which Bilal and Hufsah love and live, both separately, and together. Peanut Butter also explores the excuses we make not to be with someone - or more interestingly, the responsibilities, choices and contexts that pull you into different pathways or different futures. 

Nick Curtis, Evening Standard: Still, the arc of the story is elegantly plotted, and Manzoor-Khan fights shy of an easy or sentimental resolution. Her play feels like a necessary, non-singing counterpoint to the dizzily romantic two-person musical Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York), which transferred from the Kiln to the West End. An indication perhaps of the breadth of style, subject matter and storytelling that Rubasingham will bring to the South Bank.

John Cutler, The Reviews Hub: There are plenty of laughs to enjoy, often at the expense of Hafsah’s best female friends who are determined the sabotage the romance at every turn. Khadija Raja’s sparsely furnished revolving set effectively evokes a couple that are sometimes at odds with each other and sometimes headed in the same direction. The ending may not please rom-com purists but feels right. There is much to enjoy in Peanut Butter and Blueberries but one cannot help concluding that British Asians meet, fall in love, and marry every day of the week. That these two find it so difficult is down to them, not Bradford or Birmingham.

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