Review: Peaceophobia

Oastler Market car park, Bradford

Yvette Huddleston 4/5

Common Wealth theatre’s powerful and timely Peaceophobia returned to the Oastler market car park in Bradford for two performances last weekend before heading up to the Edinburgh Fringe.

The production, first staged last September, is part street theatre, part car show, with three young Muslim Pakistani men sharing their stories. They speak of love – their passion for modified cars and what it means to them in terms of escape, cameraderie and creativity – and of hate, the prejudice and hostility they face on a daily basis simply because of the colour of their skin and their faith. All three have grown up in the shadow of the Bradford Riots, 9/11 and constant police harrassment. In a fine coup de theatre, one of the three cars ‘speaks’, listing world events that have contributed to the current hostile climate, such as the founding of the BNP, the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the introduction of the Prevent programme.

The play is an unapologetic response to the continuing global rise of Islamaphobia and it delivers a clear and resonant message about tolerance, understanding and the challenges facing young Muslim men in Britain today. It is also about friendship and family, about music and laughter, about the importance of faith, about how modifying a car is a hugely creative, collaborative act.

It means that while there is much to ponder about identity, race and the damaging effects of intolerance, there is also a lot of joy here, helped enormously by the cinematic lighting and the pounding electronic score.