My Beautiful Launderette

Synopsis

Set within the Asian community, My Beautiful Laundrette is an unusual love story concerned with identity and the entrepreneurial spirit. Omar takes over the running of his wheeler-dealer uncle's laundrette with the intention of turning it into a glittering palace of commercial success. When he employs childhood friend and ex-National Front member Johnny they become lovers as well as working partners. However, complications soon ensue as the anger Johnny's deserted gang begins to build and Omar is forced to face increasingly difficult family issues.

Our Review:

4 February 2002

The problem with any film to stage adaptation is two-fold: either audiences will view the new incarnation with rose-tinted nostalgia or their memories of the film version will remain so vivid that any stage flaws become more than evident. This Snap Theatre company adaptation of My Beautiful Laundrette falls between both camps.

Andy Grahams' adaptation updates the tale of Omar (Havinder S Bhere), a young Asian, and Johnny (Rowan Talbot), a former National Front member, and sets it in Blairite England instead of Maggie Thatcher's era. The two young lads turn a run-down laundrette into a much-talked-about regenerated success. An unlikely love story develops and the two lads find themselves torn between where their culture states they belong and where their hearts are steering them.

Updating this fascinating landmark tale to the 'here and now' does not really work. Hanif Kureshi's original screenplay dealt with issues that were way ahead of i...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

No reviews yet

Click here to add your review