{"id":146099,"date":"2023-05-23T14:13:14","date_gmt":"2023-05-23T04:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/?p=146099"},"modified":"2023-05-23T14:13:14","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T04:13:14","slug":"i-wanna-be-yours-mtc-theatre-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/i-wanna-be-yours-mtc-theatre-review\/","title":{"rendered":"I Wanna Be Yours (MTC) &#8211; theatre review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Navigating the vicissitudes in a relationship can be tricky at the best of times, but cross-cultural unions more often than not face additional difficulties.\u00a0So it is with Ella (Eleanor Barkla) and Hasseb (Oz Malik).\u00a0The pair meets at a performance workshop. They are from opposite sides of the Thames. He is a poet and she is an actor hired to help him with his enunciation. They engage in banter around tongue twisters she has set as an exercise.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_146105\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-146105\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-146105 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rsz_wanna_be_yours_ph-tgarvie_137.jpg?resize=560%2C373&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"373\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rsz_wanna_be_yours_ph-tgarvie_137.jpg?w=560&amp;ssl=1 560w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rsz_wanna_be_yours_ph-tgarvie_137.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rsz_wanna_be_yours_ph-tgarvie_137.jpg?resize=272%2C182&amp;ssl=1 272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-146105\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photos by Tiffany Garvie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The chemistry they share is natural, immediate and plain to see.\u00a0They start dating. Things quickly become serious. They fall in love.\u00a0But while it is \u201ctheir\u201d relationship, they must learn to navigate each other\u2019s families and friends.\u00a0Of course, there are big questions about the future, about moving in together, marriage and children \u2026 cultural and religious expectations and how that could look.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Does it matter that Haseeb is British\/Pakistani, while Ella is a white girl from Yorkshire?\u00a0Can love win the day, or do romantic notions of love face insurmountable barriers?\u00a0Can Haseeb and Ella hold onto their love in a divided world?\u00a0Part of MTC\u2019s Education and Families Program, I Wanna Be Yours is the first play from London Laureate and poetry slam champion\u00a0Zia Ahmed.\u00a0The narrative arc unfolds through a multitude of short, striking vignettes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-146101 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rsz_wanna_be_yours_ph-tgarvie_214.jpg?resize=560%2C373&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"373\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rsz_wanna_be_yours_ph-tgarvie_214.jpg?w=560&amp;ssl=1 560w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rsz_wanna_be_yours_ph-tgarvie_214.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rsz_wanna_be_yours_ph-tgarvie_214.jpg?resize=272%2C182&amp;ssl=1 272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/>Writer Ahmed&#8217;s performance poetry background is evident in his evocative and playful use of language, imagery and symbolism.\u00a0He combines humour, heartbreak and hope to produce a work full of theatricality.\u00a0Movement and sound help shape the piece, which marks the MTC debut of resident director Tasnim Hossain.\u00a0The play is set to tour regionally, so three scaled down, washed out cityscapes, bleached of colour \u2013 that can be easily moved \u2013 constitute the set. (The set and costume designer is Kat Chan.)<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The actors add the colour and they impress in so doing.\u00a0Adopting appropriate accents, their performances are polished and assured throughout.\u00a0In fact, they don\u2019t miss a beat and there is an authenticity about them. In other words, they feel \u201creal\u201d.\u00a0Their \u201cplayfulness\u201d is counterpointed by the harsh realities of micro aggressions and blatant racism, evident in a variety of settings.\u00a0Barkla and Hasseb manage to bring that to the fore.\u00a0With significant ground covered and much food for thought, the production flows effortlessly.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-146104 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rsz_wanna_be_yours_ph-tgarvie_342.jpg?resize=560%2C373&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"373\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rsz_wanna_be_yours_ph-tgarvie_342.jpg?w=560&amp;ssl=1 560w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rsz_wanna_be_yours_ph-tgarvie_342.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rsz_wanna_be_yours_ph-tgarvie_342.jpg?resize=272%2C182&amp;ssl=1 272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I Wanna Be Yours is on at Southbank Theatre, The Lawler until 27<sup>th <\/sup>May, 2023.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alex First<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Navigating the vicissitudes in a relationship can be tricky at the best of times, but cross-cultural unions more often than not face additional difficulties.\u00a0So it is with Ella (Eleanor Barkla) and Hasseb (Oz Malik).\u00a0The pair meets at a performance workshop. They are from opposite sides of the Thames. He is a poet and she is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":146102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[801],"tags":[3,8785,680,8784,73,8786,8787],"class_list":["post-146099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theatre","tag-drama","tag-eleanor-barkla","tag-humour","tag-i-wanna-be-yours","tag-mtc","tag-oz-malik","tag-tasnim-hossain"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I Wanna Be Yours (MTC) - theatre review -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/i-wanna-be-yours-mtc-theatre-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Wanna Be Yours (MTC) - theatre review -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Navigating the vicissitudes in a relationship can be tricky at the best of times, but cross-cultural unions more often than not face additional difficulties.\u00a0So it is with Ella (Eleanor Barkla) and Hasseb (Oz Malik).\u00a0The pair meets at a performance workshop. 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In fact, when he had finished writing the play, Pinter sent it to Bakewell, who was shocked her life was being raked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"drama\"","block_context":{"text":"drama","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/tag\/drama\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Betrayal-01","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Betrayal-01.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Betrayal-01.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Betrayal-01.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10356,"url":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/shakespeare-in-love-mtc-theatre-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":146099,"position":3},"title":"Shakespeare in Love (MTC) &#8211; theatre review","author":"Alex First","date":"July 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Slapstick humour and pantomime feature in MTC\u2019s version of Shakespeare in Love. Adapted for the stage by Lee Hall, with music by Paddy Cunneen, this Australian premiere is based on the 1998 film of the same name. More specifically, it's based Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard's screenplay for that movie.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Theatre&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Theatre","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/category\/theatre\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Shakespeare-in-Love-03.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Shakespeare-in-Love-03.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Shakespeare-in-Love-03.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Shakespeare-in-Love-03.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":156558,"url":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/world-problems-mtc-theatre-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":146099,"position":4},"title":"World Problems (MTC) &#8211; theatre review","author":"Alex First","date":"May 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Memories \u2013 personal, intimate, global \u2026 over time and space \u2026 on Earth and beyond.\u00a0A monologue that is vivid and humorous and, at times, matter of fact, a kaleidoscope of disparate thoughts that come together to form a time capsule.\u00a0That is what writer Emma May Hall pulled together seven years\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Theatre&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Theatre","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/category\/theatre\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/rsz_world_problems_a%C2%80%C2%93_photo_by_tiffany_garvie_-_carly_sheppard_5.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/rsz_world_problems_a%C2%80%C2%93_photo_by_tiffany_garvie_-_carly_sheppard_5.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/rsz_world_problems_a%C2%80%C2%93_photo_by_tiffany_garvie_-_carly_sheppard_5.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/rsz_world_problems_a%C2%80%C2%93_photo_by_tiffany_garvie_-_carly_sheppard_5.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":140147,"url":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/fun-home-mtc-theatre-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":146099,"position":5},"title":"Fun Home (MTC) &#8211; theatre review","author":"Alex First","date":"February 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A poignant and amusing slice of life musical, it is not hard to see why Fun Home received five Tony Awards for the original Broadway production.\u00a0That included Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score.\u00a0Now, fortunately, Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company have picked it up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Theatre&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Theatre","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/category\/theatre\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/rsz_mtc_fun_home_photo_jeff_busby_1424.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/rsz_mtc_fun_home_photo_jeff_busby_1424.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/rsz_mtc_fun_home_photo_jeff_busby_1424.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/rsz_mtc_fun_home_photo_jeff_busby_1424.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rsz_wanna_be_yours_ph-tgarvie_171.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}