The drama unfolds in a kitchen and never ventures out. It is 2011 and inside, a Muslim mother is holed up, too scared to go out. Beyond her front door, the Asian community is under violent siege after a local newspaper features a lineup of British Pakistani men suspected of being part of a grooming gang.
Inspired by the recent, real-life news headlines of the child grooming rings in the north of England, Emteaz Hussain’s play offers a female take on the fallout, from how an entire community becomes targeted to how women are silenced, and who, when they raise their voices about misogyny, fear being accused of betraying an already beleaguered community. But after laying down the ground for dramatising these promising themes, the play does not do nearly enough to reckon with them.
