Riverside’s Australian premiere brings 1990s Daytimer rave scene to Parramatta
THEATRE
DAY DEEWANE
Riverside, October 18th through October 25th
Reviewed by KATE PRENDERGAST
★★★★
In Britain in the 1980s, a new underground subculture emerged after racist club bouncers denied anyone with brown skin their share of the night. These were Daytimers led by South Asian collectives; daytime parties where outcast ravers can gather on their own terms, with their own DJs, and dance to new music that blends bass-driven Bhangra, Asian garage, and diasporic jungle.
Azan Ahmed is staging his award-winning play in 2022 at the last Daytimer party in London in 1997. Sixteen-year-old Farhan (Ariyan Sharma) nervously runs towards his first party in his school uniform, wondering if Islam forbids dancing. His 20-year-old rough-boy cousin Sadiq (Ashan Kumar) bounces around impatiently in a wife-beating vest and chains, performing rhapsodies on the dance floor’s truly radical tenets of defiance, humanism and the liberation of love.
Ariyan Sharma and Ashan Kumar are excellent in Daytime Deewane as two conflicting cousins navigating adulthood.Credit: Phil Erbacher
Built on twists in character foils, Daytime Deewane It unfolds as the story of two very different young Muslim men, each trying to define the means and methods of self-respect against the values and expectations of his own heritage. It loses its rhythm in the final stretch – the time jump to the reunion scene strikes an out-of-tune chord and leaves us with an ambiguous moral implication – but there’s a lot to be highly considered in this play about immigration, masculinity and faith.
The two leads go from point to point to bring humor and depth to the Australian premiere of Riverside. Sharma gives us signature nonsense as the dutiful young square, cutting Farhan into the strangest of shapes as an aspirational “peacock” bro while asking where the prayer room is.
This is Kumar’s first appearance on the main stage; He brings to the uber-masculine Sadiq a muscular swagger, an easy style, and a clear courage against the vulnerabilities of someone with only one clear exit strategy. Among the stacks of speakers drenched in neon lights and at director Sepy Baghaei’s disposal, we see the cousins’ close bond of childlike joy and affection, connecting across the chasm of their different priorities.
Like the party’s sanctuary, their perfect brotherhood is an ideal constantly under siege. The first rupture occurs when Sadiq’s sweet talk (directly directed at the women in the audience) turns into slut-shaming, leading to Farhan’s first challenge to the man he idolized growing up. The subject of their father is the real trigger; One is about to be deported, the other is disappointed in his “stupid” son. The baggage they carry means they take different journeys through life. It would take a lot for everyone not to read this as betrayal.
Daytime The first play by the English poet Ahmed (who has since written and staged it several more times), shifting naturalism to slam by adding rhymes to its characters’ monologues. While it may not all work out, it’s a bold decision that has some payoff. Chrysoulla Markoulli’s Daytimer tracklist is exciting. If you’re a punter with that particular raver blood, it can be hard to sit still.
A modern game that extends to the old style, Daytime Deewane brings a lost scene of the beautiful rebellion of the diaspora to Parramatta with top-notch leads. If possible, add this to your dance card.
