The Real Ones by Waleed Akthar
Bush Theatre 23rd September - 26th October
Review by Aisling Towl
When You Were Young - The Killers
We meet Zaid (Nathaniel Curtis) and Neelam (Mariam Haque) in their first year at different universities. The two excitable, scatty almost-adults bicker and tease each other by default, but the love is palpable. On Anisha Field’s blue, minimalist set, student accommodation becomes indie club becomes cinema box office, becomes various other backdrops to the two friends’ lives, as the story charts their growing up together.
When You Were Young by the Killers feels like a fitting encapsulation of this time in the characters lives - the whole play is soundtracked by the grungy early 2000s indie hits that mean so much to the friends. A nostalgia hangs in the air of these early scenes, even before life complicates matters for Zaid and Naleem.
Changes - Charles Bradley
Zaid and Naleem’s friendship is tested with each new stage of life they enter. Both born and bred in Essex, in British-Pakistani Muslim households, they have a shorthand understanding of each others’ dreams, hopes, fears and responsibilities. But Waleed Akhtar’s script brings a thoughtful meditation on how queer peoples’ lives often aren’t marked by the same milestones as their straight counterparts, and how difficult this can make sustaining friendship in adulthood.
Charles Bradley’s classic cover of Black Sabbath’s Changes laments life's tribulations with soulful vocals and soaring instrumentals. A ballad for the ages on the pain of change and letting go of the past.
Multi Love - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Both characters’ partners deserve a shout out - Nnabiko Ejimofor as Deji, Naleem’s studious, steady boyfriend, and Anthony Howell as Jeremy, Zaid’s on-off partner and former university lecturer. These characters add depth to the story and increase the pressure on the central friendship - each characters’ lover seems their best friends’ opposite, and personality clashes ensue. Can Zaid and Naleem find time and space for each other within their ever more different domestic lives?
Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Multi Love is the title track of the band’s third studio album. It’s a heady, psychedelic rock song about the equally devastating and euphoric ways love shakes us up - especially when multiple people are involved.
Slowly - Olivia Dean
The friendships that define our lives can be steeped in as much joy, pain and complexity as romantic relationships - sometimes more. The play is brutally honest in this regard, and I was reminded as I’m sure much of the audience was of friends I no longer speak to - people I’ve hurt or who have hurt me, or our lives just having gone different ways.
Olivia Dean’s Slowly is a gorgeous track with lyrics so vivid and vulnerable you almost feel as if you’re watching the singer’s memories unfold right in front of you. Letting go of love, in all its forms, is a slow and bittersweet experience - it’s never easy and in this song, as in the play, we feel how difficult it really is.
Don't Be Scare - Yoko Ono
The Real Ones is a celebration of platonic soulmates and a story about growing up and facing the world. Zaid and Naleem’s story is told episodically, with the audience given glimpses of various points in their lives. “Everyone has their season” Jeremy says, and though he means it cruelly, this rings true in a different sense as we watch each character transformed by the loves and ambitions that shape their lives.
Don’t Be Scared is a song from the 1984 album Milk and Honey, the sixth and final album recorded by Yoko Ono and John Lennon. Released three years after Lennon’s murder, this song in particular takes on real poignancy. Ono’s vocals and gentle, lilting beat reminds us it’s better to have loved and lost than to never love at all.
Honourable Mentions
Let’s stay together - Al Green
Better than - Lake Street Drive
Casual - Chappel Roan
I Wish It Was Me - Obongjayar
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