Review: Peanut Butter and Blueberries (Leeds Playhouse)
Peanut Butter and Blueberries was originally commissioned by and performed at Kiln Theatre in London in 2024. Now showing at Leeds Playhouse, I went along to review this new play by Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan.
On entering the auditorium of the Courtyard theatre space, the stage was beautifully lit with purple hues, and a simple park bench with two bags was visible. This minimal set (Khadija Raza) and subtle lighting (Rajiv Pattani) suit the production well as they allow you to fully focus on the characters. The rotating stage also enabled timely changes of the furniture, without any interruption of the performance.
Two students meet at SOAS in London. Both British and practicing Muslims, they have a connection because of their shared faith and the fact they are not from the home counties. Hafsah (Humera Syed) is from Bradford, and Bilal (Kashif Ghole) from Birmingham. At the heart of the story is a tale of first love. Bilal introduces Hafsah to the idea of peanut butter and blueberry sandwiches, and following that they discover more about each other’s lives outside of university, and their hopes and dreams for the future.
Hafsah is the more studious of the two, working hard at Uni while also writing a novella in her spare time. Bilal is less certain of this path and doesn’t seem to take his particular course too seriously, but this enables him to bring a light hearted element to the story at times, and introduce comedy into the narrative along the way.
As the show progresses the characters reveal a lot about themselves, and their portrayal of how they grow closer is wonderfully done to the point where a kind gesture from Bilal on a rainy day has you catching a breath at a moment which can be seen as pivotal. They are surely destined to be together? Yet despite showing his protective nature, Bilal also has his flaws and the writing’s strength is that it doesn’t ever try to sugarcoat any of these.
Despite the fact there are two performers on stage, other characters are introduced successfully and fleshed out by discussion about them. This is really cleverly done and these characters are fully a part of the story, in particular with Bilal’s friend Abdulla whose time with Hafsah and Bilal has quite an impact on an evening they spend together.
What the play does well is remind you how it feels to be away from home from the first time, finding your feet in the world and trying to establish a new relationship. As a slice of life, Peanut Butter and Blueberries also very cleverly contains elements that anyone would be able to relate to. There is the use of multiple languages, appropriate to the characters (Bilal is keen to learn Pahari), which the audience reaction was strong to. Despite not being able to relate to these moments, instead I personally connected to other parts of the story more deeply.
The performances by Kashif Ghole and Humera Syed made the connection between the characters feel genuine, and their portrayal of the characters displayed a blend of strength and vulnerability, making it easy to empathise with both of them.
The use of movement (directed by Natasha Harrison) to denote time and location changes was cleverly done. Similarly, the body language changes as the characters got to know each other made their developing relationship feel authentic. The sound design (Helen Skiera) was very subtle but also added to the emotional impact of the story.
Directed by Sameena Hussain, Peanut Butter and Blueberries is 85 minutes long with no interval, and this works well. The pacing of the show is such that you feel completely invested in the characters and willing them to jump over every hurdle in their paths, both individually and as a couple.
This play is a rom com which offers familiarity with some of the usual tropes of this genre, but the story is also very unique due to the fact that the characters’ faith is not an obstacle to their relationship, in fact almost blending into the background at times.
With strong writing and performances, and a fresh take on first love, I would recommend this play to anyone.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Peanut Butter and Blueberries is at Leeds Playhouse until Saturday 7 November.
I was gifted a ticket for this show in exchange for an honest review.
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