Vitamin D

At 90 minutes there are limits to what this play can achieve. We never truly enter the emotional state which feels as though it is bubbling under the surface. What we do have is a play which feels a little superficial at times and lacks the true depth a story such as this holds. Shah’s writing is clever, funny and insightful, with the spoken word poetry sections bringing some of that emotion to the forefront. Some of the characters unfortunately feel two dimensional, the stereotypical Auntie who sticks her nose in where it isn’t wanted, the materialistic fake ‘bestie’ who is being neglected in her marriage and pacified with money and expensive clothes. These characters deserve more fleshing out, they have history and stories too but that is all lost to the stereotypes. 

I understand the choice not to focus too much on the trauma that the character has been through, instead attempting to open up the conversation around something which is often hidden within the Pakistani community. It does however feel this choice is a mis-step in that there is really only one scene we even come close to feeling the anguish and pain felt by the main character, but due to the pace of the rest of the piece this scene gets lost and doesn’t pack as much of a punch as it rightfully should.