Broken Legs Blog

Based on the 1985 film of the same name, “My Beautiful Laundrette” takes us back to the 80s and tells the story of Omar (Lucca Chadwick-Patel), a young Pakistani who gets a job working for his uncle Nasser (Kammy Darweish), first at his garage and subsequently at his laundrette. The first act of the play takes its time to introduce us to each of the characters and allows us to get a better understanding of Omar’s world.

This is a world that is fraught with prejudice and racism, as Omar continuously clashes with white supremacists Genghis (Paddy Daly) and Moose (Emma Bown), as well as attacks from his cousin Salim (Hareet Deol), who accuses Omar of not being a “true Muslim” due to his British upbringing. One evening, Omar and Salim are saved from an attack by skinhead Johnny (Sam Mitchell), who recognises Omar as they used to be at school together.

The play doesn’t explore Johnny and Omar’s school life beyond a few sentences, which is a shame as this seems to be an interesting history for the characters, but prefers to spend time in the “present”, as Johnny gets a job working at the laundrette and sets about helping Omar to turn the place around, with the help of some cash from some dubious drug deals. Johnny and Omar become close friends in the process, but by the end of act one, their relationship has become more than that – they have started to fall in love.

The relationship must be kept secret, but again, this doesn’t seem to cause too many problems for the characters. The fact that their relationship is kept secret is just a fact that is accepted by the two young men – there is no angst over wanting to be “together” in a proper sense, no dreams of being accepted. In the time and place that these two men inhabit, that is not even dreamt of as being a possibility.

Omar and Johnny’s relationship is built carefully and believably, with excellent acting from both Chadwick-Patel and Mitchell, as both boys move from being close friends to something more. The story slows down in the second act, focusing on Nasser’s daughter Tania (Sharan Phull), who begs Omar to marry her to prevent her being sent to Lahore to marry instead. Whilst this is an interesting angle for the story, and helps to demonstrate the implications of living in a strict Muslim family, it felt like it detracted from the main relationship of the two men, and just served to complicate the story a little.

The play also stars Gordon Warnecke – who played Omar in the original film – as Omar’s Papa, who gives Omar some useful advice on his career, but serves little purpose elsewhere. The play does not particularly have many twists and turns, but the believable and likeable main characters make this an enjoyable two and a half hours. Unfortunately, just when things begin to get even more interesting, the play ends, and many loose ends don’t seem to get tied up.

The design of the play is excellent, with washing machines becoming disco lights in some scenes, and the play being filled with bubbles for the final bows. Overall, an enjoyable afternoon, with some excellent acting but a story that can feel a little lacklustre at times.

Tom Morley, February 2024