Photo credit: Graeme Braidwood
Off-Key is the latest offering from Side eYe Productions, a collective dedicated to telling stories by Black Muslim women. Written by Fatima Ali Omar, Off-Key is a funny and feeling exploration of two Year 13 girls on the cusp of taking their first steps into adulthood, whilst battling the pressure and prejudice of a Birmingham grammar school.
Mannan Guled’s Sabrin is the perfect yin to Salma Muse’s Ruqqaiyah’s yang. The show demonstrates the powerful bonds formed of female friendship during teenagedom, what brings us together and what tears us apart as we grow up. Their unadulterated ego and enthusiasm provides so much laughter and relatability for a time when Paramore, UCAS and political revolution are the centre of the universe.
The set is very minimal but holds all the right elements - run-down instruments, school posters, uncomfortable looking chairs and a bin - to immediately place you in a music class room. Scene changes are reminiscent of a school production, simple but effective and in this case, appropriate for the show’s context. But they are mostly practical and lack the creativity to enhance the stage’s storytelling any further. The sound design, likewise, is simple but effective, with the intention clear but the ultimate impact is sometimes jarring as the timing disrupts the flow of action on stage, which is commanded well by the only two cast members.
Omar’s writing evokes a whole world of characters never present on stage, whilst Guled and Muse’s performances keep the audience engaged and entertained until the show’s abrupt end. Most elements of the show could place its setting anytime in the last 10 years, but the choice to have this mere months ago reflects how little times continue to change for “externals” and how easy it is for the world to beat you down before you’ve even begun. Both girls have huge but very different dreams for their futures which despite their all-consuming effort, Off-Key makes clear remains largely out of their hands. Never once do we hear the talented young Sabrin play, so the audience holds on with bated breath for her future without being able to pass their own judgment. A beautiful metaphor that talent is likely irrelevant to the outcomes for Ruqqaiyah and Sabrin. Whilst the finale is anti-climactic, where we leave our characters in the story has the audience asking all the right questions and leaves room for hope.
Ruqqaiyah and Sabrin are the perfect vehicle for Off-Key’s dive into the harmful world of stats and optics driven grammar schools, serving as an unapologetic and loud reminder that at one time as teenagers, despite the odds, everything can seem possible. It is a powerful and entertaining production, with great talent on stage but next time they could push the envelope even further.
*** Three stars
Reviewed by: Courtney Priday