You would expect the most interesting characters in a culture-clash comedy described as “East meets Wigan” to be one of the two leads. It would be Ashraf, the Egyptian-Muslim taxi driver, trying to uphold tradition in the manner of Eddie Carbone in A View from the Bridge or Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Or it would be Ashraf’s daughter Shazia, in the Juliet role, trying to claim her independence while dating a white special-needs teacher who is as nice as he is culturally clueless.
It turns out to be neither of these two, despite warm-hearted performances by Dana Haqjoo and Shamia Chalabi, who co-wrote the play with Sarah Henley. They make a believable father-daughter couple, each too fond of the other to let their differences get in the way. But however truthful their relationship, it is one with little dramatic conflict. It is hard to believe the genial Ashraf would pose a threat to Shazia’s marital plans, nor that his “habibti”, or darling, could not charm her way to winning him around.
