one4review | On 13, Aug 2015

Noman’s Land is an autobiographical one-woman comedy about her experiences as a gay, female journalist in Pakistan. This is really a play, although it is listed as comedy, centres around a lesbian Tinder date in Karachi.

Ms Noman hopes that the date will be a way to replicate her New York life in Pakistan. However, the date, Jamal, brings her own complications notwithstanding the authorities stance on such occurrences and how her American accent and being the only woman didn’t go down well at her paper.

This piece does give an insight to a culture of kidnapping and bodyguards, raids on offices and even murder that I was unaware of, and it is fair to say that Natasha is a good actress playing all the characters. But for me the play was disjoined, and although the characterisation was good, sometimes the story was too broken and lines lost due to the accents of the protagonists. The breaking of the fourth wall again didn’t help the flow.

***

Reviewed by Geoff

Gilded Balloon Balcony

Until 15^th August

19.45 to 20.45