Uncle and nephew duo are taking Southall by storm as the 19th best Asian wedding DJs in town, and they’re making it happen one wedding at a time. Rifco Theatre Company and Soho Theatre bring this energetic two hander to this year’s fringe and it promises an immersive experience that will leave the audience dancing out of the Assembly Underground. Unfortunately, Pali and Jay’s Ultimate Asian Wedding DJ Roadshow doesn’t fully deliver its promise as the actors struggled against a thin script, overpowering music and an acoustically unforgiving venue.
Pali, uncle to Jay, has many dreams he wishes to fulfill, but the wedding DJ market is overpopulated and he’s struggling to keep up with the fast moving, everchanging scene. He enlists the help of his nephew who is more interested in what the wedding can give to him in the form of free food and potential one-night stands, but even so, still has dreams of his own. Pali and Jay face off against family expectation and their generational split to make it through this wedding, that we are all invited to.
The play takes a long while to lift off, leaving many audience members shifting in their seats. The slightly longer running time than the usual one-hour slot for most fringe shows is unwarranted as it is only in the last twenty to thirty minutes that you feel connected to these two characters. The direction and narrative leaves much to be desired as we slugged towards the eventual end. Although the music was enjoyable and had very high hopes giving the show’s exciting premise and my respect for Rifco as a company, the entire production felt underdeveloped and disappointing.
Pali & Jay’s Ultimate Asian Wedding DJ Roadshow is on at Assembly Underground, Assembly Studios from August 3 – 25 at 20.00.
Buy tickets here.
Image provided by Assembly press release.