A promising and ambitious premise is unable to compensate for uneven writing and heavy-handed punchlines
As the audience is ushered upstairs into the theatre at the Hen and Chickens pub in Islington, we are handed a copy of the programme as staff say, “sorry for your loss.” Whilst still finding our seats, we can see the cast silently pacing back and forth at what appears to be a funeral wake, thus setting the scene for Arista Abbabatulla’s new play Ghost Grandma, co-written by Anamika Srivastava and Pallavi Kumar.
The play begins with Dee, played by Srivastava, attending this wake, only to find out that her formerly estranged grandmother has left her a large house in her will. Dee is then forced to reckon with the typically tedious legal processes that come with inheritance, but with the added complication of being haunted by the ghost of her late grandma. The pair attempt to fend off eccentric tenants, covetous neighbours, and conniving council members, all the while attempting to resuscitate any semblance of a relationship they may be able to have with one another.
It is an engaging and thoughtful premise, however all of the interweaving plot points unfold in such a sudden and slapstick manner that they leave little room for emotional depth or exploration. For example, the character of Dee is not given the development she deserves and is instead reduced to near-caricature, with an insistence on melodramatic and unrealistic gags and what feels like a dated obsession with selfies and social media. The supporting cast suffer a similar fate; most of their stage time is taken up by exaggerated punchlines or clichéd misdeeds, allowing them neither the space to come across as a genuine villainous presence nor to provide effective comic relief.
And therein lies the main issue with Ghost Grandma. Marketed as a comedy, it struggles to maintain any consistent comedic impact. Despite the cast’s evident commitment, the script and direction leave many jokes falling flat, and the actors’ often overstated delivery of punchlines makes the tonal shifts that come later in the play all the more jarring and uneven.
Despite this, Selina Patankar, who plays Grandma, stands out as the most engaging and consistently funny character, with much of her humour stemming from quick quips and retorts in her conversations with Dee. These quieter interactions provide the show’s most effective moments of laughter and pathos, and the play would have benefited from more of them, as opposed to the loud physical comedy relied upon by the supporting characters.In her conversation with A Youngish Perspective, the play’s directors and writers stated that “in the UK, South Asian culture is often known for its food and places, but the way people actually live is frequently misunderstood. We wanted to bring these authentic experiences to the stage.” This commitment to telling a distinctly South Asian story is a welcome one, and it is refreshing to see a play that endeavours to portray the lived experiences of British Asians without relying on stereotypes, while still retaining cultural specificity. Unfortunately, over the course of its hour-long runtime, the play is not quite able to make its characters feel fully fleshed out or to grant them the humanity and tenderness it valiantly aims for.