I have tried to make it a habit to attend shows exploring the Asian diaspora to witness others’ lived experiences which may or may not be dissimilar to my own, and to a certain extent, they can somewhat get repetitive, whether they be spoken-word, comedy, or theatre. However, coming out of Jerk Off !, Nadia P Manzoor’s one-hour and twenty-minute solo performance really takes the cake as being in my top three favourites of all time.
Spending her earlier years within a Pakistani-Muslim home in North London, the comedic performer introduces her home life as having “a little bit of sexism, a little bit of emotional instability… and a lot of biryani!” Manzoor delves into the Asian-Muslim experience remarkably, ranging from parents pushing for marriage at a young age (as “nobody wants to marry a potato”), to not wanting to end up like her mother by “living the life she couldn’t” but soon becoming like her anyway, and finally to finding out what it means to live the Western lifestyle all the way in Boston with her hip-hop dancer boyfriend.
The flow between each narrative story was completely seamless through the talented performer’s storytelling, perfectly mixing aspects of comedy and drama to match her life story. The timing between the two genres of her theatrical spoken-word performance ensured that it had everyone in the audience positively in between laughter and gasps of emotion.
Manzoor successfully shows off her natural talent of easily interchanging between her characters and their accent, from the strong, stern exterior of her Pakistani-Muslim father, to her suave, manipulative boyfriend Miguel from the Bronx. This success to fully envelope the sense of the characters themselves resulted in myself being able to almost imagine and see them on stage.
Not only this, but Manzoor’s subtle flex of her hip-hop dance skills were amazing, and it was eye-catching to see her discover her sense-of-self by combining Desi and hip-hop dance moves –almost becoming a “portal into [her mother].”
There were a few lighting technical issues at first, causing her audience to wait in line for around twenty minutes outside the venue. The wait had made me quite apprehensive, but as soon as Manzoor’s performance began, it’s no wonder why the show had to take a pause – as the lighting was completely on point! Every change in scene and character, the stage lighting direction was flawless.
Manzoor’s dark comedy solo-show contains everything a westernised Asian-Muslim girl needs to see and hear: that we are not alone in our experiences, and we’re able to break the cycle like she has done for her daughter, Rumi (mainly by telling her that she can only watch porn that contains a romance plot).
Jerk Off! is running until 30 August (except Tuesdays) at Dairy Room at Underbelly, Bristo
Square.
Buy tickets here.
Photo Via Toast Creative Agency
