'The Buddha of Suburbia' review — Hanif Kureishi and Emma Rice's warm, playful page to stage adaptation

Read our review of The Buddha of Suburbia, adapted by Hanif Kureishi and Emma Rice, now in performances at the Barbican in London through 16 November.

Written in the 1990s and set in the 1970s, Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia is an incisive exploration of class, race, sexuality, and identity politics, focusing on the experiences of Karim, a bisexual, suburban teenager, part South Asian and “an Englishman born and bred, almost.” Brought to the stage by adaptors Kureishi and the director Emma Rice, first at the RSC’s Swan Theatre and, now, the Barbican in London, the play is a warm, colourful, and community-focused celebration of the original novel.

Following the same narrative path as the book, the play journeys from Karim’s beginnings in Bromley, south London, exploring sex with his childhood friend Jamila (Natasha Jayetileke) and school crush Charlie (Tommy Belshaw), through to his aspirations as an actor under the watchful eye of prestigious theatre director Matthew Pyke (a deliciously pretentious Ewan Wardrop), who mines Karim’s cultural background for entertainment. The play also mirrors the novel stylistically: Karim’s first-person narration is often delivered into a microphone, under a spotlight, which is reminiscent of stand-up comedians and points towards the play’s layered humour.

It is a playful addition, and typical of Rice’s vibrant and lively style of directing. The most joyful part of this production, however, is its richly drawn characters such as Karim’s spiritual father Haroon (played by the impressively bendy Ankur Bahl), who flamboyantly drops into the splits or holds a headstand for minutes on end, and Jamila’s loveable, innocent husband Changez (a heartfelt performance from Simon Rivers), who discovers that the reality of living in England is a world away from his cherished Arthur Conan Doyle and P.G. Wodehouse books.

Dee Ahluwalia, a relative newcomer in the industry, is assured as Karim — full of energy, excitement for the future, and a hunger to explore who he is and his place in the world.

The production’s aesthetic is rooted in the changing period of the 1970s, from costume designer Vicki Mortimer’s figure-hugging corduroy flares, silk caftans, and floral shirts, to the show’s well-researched music, which moves from Pink Floyd and Carly Simon to Bill Withers. A small TV is even wheeled out during the interval, showing snippets from sitcoms Rising Damp and George & Mildred, while Margaret Thatcher’s first speech as Prime Minister outside 10 Downing Street is projected against set designer Rachana Jadhav’s graffitied, red-brick walls.

Memorable moments from the book are elevated on stage, including a fruity orgy inventively involving a grapefruit and bananas and an evocative portrayal of Haroon’s glorious childhood in India, washed in lighting designer Jai Morjaria’s amber hues. But some of the more shocking parts of the novel are dulled, such as Karim’s voyeurism during Charlie’s sexual submission, which is reduced to a masked woman leading Charlie into the upper storey of Jadhav’s set.

Despite glossing over some of these darker sub-plots, the play still packs in an incredible amount of the novel’s detail. Kureishi’s personal writing and Rice’s fresh and innovative direction has resulted in a rich page to stage adaptation. Their pairing on this project is a match made in heaven.

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Photo credit: Dee Ahluwalia in The Buddha of Suburbia at the Barbican in London. (Photos by Steve Tanner)