Strictly Balti

Summary

Saikat is a second-generation Bangladeshi English, caught between being Sid at school and Saikat at home. Caught between parents who want him to be tied to his Bangladeshi roots, and parents who want him to be a good English boy.

The play follows Saikat through school in Birmingham and travelling with his parents on trips back to Bangladesh, as he tries to figure out who he is, where he comes from, and where he belongs. It is about a Bangladeshi boy trying to fit into life in Birmingham, his parents proudly infusing his life with pride in his homeland, while at school the temptation to fit in with his English friends in the playground is overwhelming at times.

Beginning as a small child on Christmas Day, Ahamed takes a journey through his childhood in Birmingham, the only child of a mother and father from Bangladesh. Ahamed's frustration at his parents' inability to fully embrace British culture while expecting him to, his fibs in the playground to avoid standing out and his infatuation with a girl at ballroom dancing classes all meshed together to leave the audience feeling like they knew him personally. Ahamed keeps the story confined to a few years of his life, culminating in a trip to his parent's home country just after he leaves school at 18.

Overview

Strictly Balti is a condensed story of Ahamed's life. It tells a personal story of a childhood caught between two different cultures: that of his parents', which they brought with them from Bangladesh; and of the very Anglo-Saxon, Christian, mostly middle class, British version that surrounded him outside his home. Ahamed avoids making the immigrant a victim.

His parents often take centre stage, his father is a proud, local GP who wants his son to be as British as possible while maintaining how he is Bangladeshi through and through. He is a proud loving man struggling with his own issues of belonging. Ahamed, meanwhile, is juggling three different versions of himself, the most "British" of which, Syd, seems to be evading him at every turn. "?

Ahamed takes on the roles of the other people in his life: his parents, the nuns at his primary school, his ballroom teacher.

Along the way Ahamed, points out that much of his confusion growing up is also a product of intergenerational expectations, teenage insecurities and that 'playground' isolation can be a function of children coping with anyone who is different and not just a function of race or colour. He identifies the inherent conflict in our lives of needing boxes to identify ourselves and how we then react against the constraints of the limits of any such labels. Not feeling either completely British or Bengali, Ahamed had to develop his own 'third culture' sense of identity.

Themes

Strictly Balti combines comedy and real life events of Ahamed's upbringing, it follows Ahamed, as a young British Bengali growing up in Birmingham in the 1980s, who finds himself forced to learn ballroom dancing by his British-loving Desi parents. The title comes from the fact that his parents sent me to ballroom dance classes every Saturday during my childhood because they thought it was English. he was two years Gold champion in Ballroom and Latin American dance: “I’ve never been so ashamed.

Background

In November 2015, Ahamed told The Reviews Hub "When I was making the piece, I was writing it going, 'Oh yeah, this is funny ', and then actually in the rehearsal process, I realised how personal it was. It's been a real privilege, genuinely, because from my mind, theatre should really be about connecting to people and actually there is a truth in this piece.",

In January 2016, he told The University Paper "It was commissioned as an exploration of being a second-generation immigrant – but I’ve found that I'm even more interested in the universality of experience," he says. "It's not so much about being a British Asian kid as much as it's a play about just being a kid." He added, "Doing a one-man show takes all of your concentration times ten – with no-one else on stage, you have to be able to bounce off the audience."

In November 2015, "Because it is a true story. It is my story, and people seem to really respond to that."

Production

Strictly Balti is written and performed by Ahamed, commissioned by the Travelling Light Theatre Company (which was its 46th production), directed by Sally Cookson, the set design by Katie Sykes and musical direction from Peter Judge.

The stage is populated only by four open-topped wooden boxes of differing sizes, which act as everything from presents to platforms to rooftops. Ahamed begins by suggesting that our whole lives are lived in boxes – houses, cars, food, waste. We are often asked to define ourselves by them, too, when completing paperwork – in his case is he "Asian" or "British Asian"? It featured a simple set, with three boxes improvising as furniture, Grannie’s bed, the back of a car and the whole of Bangladesh or Birmingham (the same three boxes for both).

Tour

Strictly Balti debuted at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2015. The show was also performed at Birmingham Repertory Theatre in November.

Critical response

Jane Howard of Fest Mag Hub said of Strictly Balti, "The story, though touching on complex issues, is told simply to appeal to children as well as adults." Selwyn Knight of The Reviews Hub said, "...what Ahamed crafts on stage is a truly emotionally touching tale." Chris Oldham of The Reviews Hub called it "...sweet, poignant hour of theatre that seeks to unite rather than divide." Joan Phillips of The Reviews Hub said, "Ahamed's performance is superbly acted and tenderly told. Saikat's recollections are all the more touching as they are so obviously personal."

Steve Mellen of Bristol Post said "Saikat is a gem in the Bristol theatre scene, and long may he hang around to share his skills with us." Guide2Bristol called it "A thought-provoking delight, with comedy and poignancy aplenty." Stagetalk Magazine said, "This is storytelling at its best. Never sentimental, sometimes explosive... it explores the bewilderment, comedy and pathos in the rub between East and West."