Theatre review: Love N Stuff

Prepare to laugh until you can chuckle no more...

True love never did run smooth, but if after 33 years of marriage it can still blossom, as it does for Love N Stuff’s protagonists Bindi and Mansoor, then there is hope for all of us. A duologue performance that sees two actors (Rina Fatania) and (Nicholas Khan) play over 20 roles, Love N Stuff is an ingenious and entertaining production that will make you laugh so much, you’ll leave the theatre having lost a few years.

The tale focuses on a couple who after a long and happy marriage suddenly face their biggest test yet. Husband Mansoor has decided he’s fed up of England and wants to settle back in India, but his wife Bindi doesn’t want to leave her East London home. We encounter the pair at Heathrow Airport as Mansoor awaits to board his plane, unaware that his wife Bindi has various plans up her kurta sleeves to make him stay.

While the pair discuss their 33 year relationship which has included being disowned by their families as one of them is Muslim and one Hindu, their struggles to conceive, career successes and even their first date, a host of other characters, played by the two of them, drop in and out of their conversation.

These include random characters at the airport whose conversations they over hear, a firm Duty Free seller, naughty children running around and even their neighbours who mysteriously happen to also be at Heathrow Terminal 3.

A play that’s as much about friendship and belonging as is it about marriage, Love N Stuff (by renowned award-winning playwright Tanika Gupta), which is in its second run having previously shown in 2013), shows just how creative a production can be with the most simple of staging. Despite being set for the most part in one location, the airport, the play takes the viewer on a journey through so many scenarios and diverse characters.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the production is actress Rina Fatania – a multi-talented performer she nails every one of her characters, observing the most minute of details with precision. The character she receives the most applause for from the audience is her portrayal of a 16-year-old white boy called Baggy, whose street speak dialect has everyone in hysterics, followed by her role of Ruby, The Hippy.

Fun, funny and filled with positive energy, Love N Stuff is an uplifting performance with universal values that will appeal to even the most unromantic of people, leaving them with a feeling of joy and reminder of how satisfying love is.

Love N Stuff runs from 3 June-25 June 2016 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square, London E15 1BN. No booking fee is charged.