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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Shazia Mirza: Between You and Me
Verdict: Humour from dilemma
Edinburgh 05 - Pleasance Dome - 22:15 (1:00)
Between You and Me is a 1-hour one-woman show by Shazia Mirza - in the genre of stand-up about parents and growing up.
In this case, the comic explains that she was born into a Pakistani family in Birmingham. So her show ends up making fun of a sub-culture that is currently the subject of a lot of interest in Britain - and elsewhere. Perhaps exaggerating for humour, she portrays her family and community as violently patriarchal, repressed, perverse, and rather scary.
Shazia Mirza says 'I like the edgy stuff'. She doesn’t back away from it. Some may feel that she is hitting below the belt. Her subject is her own life, as a sort of object-lesson. The big issue in her life and others, she suggests, is that they have values from one country, and live in another. Her humour springs from the dilemma of being roughly rejected by her fellow Muslims, and being seen by mainstream British as hopelessly parochial. Emblematic of this irony is her virginity, on which she dwells.
A question is, can she make it work? Doing a monologue on virginity may provoke the response - Who cares? For better or worse, Shazia Mirza is now fringe comedy's leading voice of the British-born Pakistani and Muslim communities. The recent London bombings present her with a golden career opportunity to be relevant.
Credits: Created and Performed by Shazia Mirza. Director - John Gordillo. Technical Operator (today) - Ross McGivern; (Edinburgh) - Venue Staff.
END
(c) Brad Hall 2005
reviewed Friday 29 July 05 / Canal Café Theatre
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
