Review: The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Finborough Theatre)

This year, in addition to its annual stint in the West End, the National Youth Theatre celebrates its 60th birthday with a season of new writing at the Finborough Theatre. It’s a bold choice – the 50-seat theatre really puts the young company under a microscope.

This is the first time Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist has been adapted for the stage. It’s a dark, unsettling tale of our times that looks at an increasingly hostile America in the wake of terrorist attacks. In it, the protagonist Changez offers up his life story directly to the audience – we are visitors to his brother’s café in Pakistan. We learn how Changez makes his way from the loud, dirty streets of Lahore, where he grew up, to the bright, harsh tower blocks of Manhattan, where he works, at the top of his game, for a consultancy firm.

It’s also a tale of love: Changez falls for bereaved student Erica, who is haunted by the memory of her dead boyfriend. But a crucial turning point in Changez’s story – and Erica’s ultimate demise – comes when the Twin Towers are attacked. After this, he is increasingly treated with suspicion by the people around him and his warmth to the US begins to change. It’s a chilling demonstration of the collapse of the American dream.

Stephanie Street’s adaptation gets most of the original in, with the action playing out mainly through flashbacks, but the gradual transition from Changez’s initial feelings towards the US and his eventual disgust with it, doesn’t fully translate. His internal journey is only just perceptible from the outside. The dialogue flows, but we don’t believe the character’s arc. We don’t feel his disappointment, resentment and anger enough.

But Prasanna Puwanarajah’s production uses the space, set in the round, very well and his direction allows Akshay Sharan as Changez to shine. Sharan is generally very good, giving a convincing turn in a complex role. Elsewhere, the performances are a little uneven, though Guy Hoare’s lighting designs work brilliantly. Some of the internal conflict within Changez comes through the flickering and pulsing strip lights. It's the sort of conflict that is lacking in both the performances and script.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist runs at the Finborough Theatre until 27 August.