"Graham's play is both a dramatic piece of living history and a timely demonstration of the danger of allowing foreign policy to be dictated by a prime minister who flagrantly flouts international law. " -- Michael Billington, Guardian, on Eden's Empire "The measure of DC Moore's quality as a writer is his ability to garner sympathy for this immensely dislikeable university drop-out." -- The British Theatre Guide on Alaska "Boasting the digestibility of a rom-com and the roughage of an issues drama, Alia Bano's tale of London Muslims looking for love is a superb start to the Royal Court's Young Writers Festival . Like most good rom-com folk, Bano's characters are smart, headstrong, witty and self-aware. That they happen to be both united and divided by their background gives Bano her story . The play's great achievement is to be engagingly irreverent while knowing that irreverence can be an orthodoxy too . Reza . says he resents being asked to choose between Britishness and being a Muslim.
Such sentiments have been expressed before, but rarely with the propulsive plotting, inspiring intelligence and light touch of this hugely enjoyable play." --Dominic Maxwell, The Times on Shades "must-see for anyone concerned about the threat of extreme nationalism and curious to explore the context behind that threat." -- whatsonstage.com on A Day at the Racists "This thrilling debut play by Rachel De-lahay plugs straight into the jittery heart of multicultural London today . De-lahay has an alert ear for comic dialogue and her portrait of mixed-race, upwardly mobile twentysomethings on the estate - one character works in PR, another is an aspiring model - crackles with wit as well as moments of deep emotion. The play raises the provocative question of whether it is possible to shrug off the fraught issue of racial identity . It's a play that combines sharp one-liners with a savvy sense of the way we live now . One leaves the theatre impatient to discover what Rachel De-lahay will come up with next.
" -- Telegraph, on The Westbridge "The play expresses, more succinctly than journalism, the moral mess surrounding citizenship and criminal law." -- The Times on Routes "Boasting the digestibility of a rom-com and the roughage of an issues drama, Alia Bano's tale of London Muslims looking for love is a superb start to the Royal Court's Young Writers Festival . Like most good rom-com folk, Bano's characters are smart, headstrong, witty and self-aware. That they happen to be both united and divided by their background gives Bano her story . The play's great achievement is to be engagingly irreverent while knowing that irreverence can be an orthodoxy too . Reza . says he resents being asked to choose between Britishness and being a Muslim. Such sentiments have been expressed before, but rarely with the propulsive plotting, inspiring intelligence and light touch of this hugely enjoyable play" -- Dominic Maxwell, The Times on Shades.