British-Iraqi comedian Hasan Al-Habib’s eye-catching show is about coming from a part of the world blighted by poverty, danger and the world’s negative preconceptions. But that’s enough about Birmingham. There’s plenty more where that came from in Death to the West (Midlands), an adroit solo debut from the self-styled “amusing Arab”, the son of Middle Eastern incomers now addressing in standup his complex sense of belonging. The whole show balances his Brummie and his Iraqi identities, with reference to his stereotypical immigrant dad, his growing up during the second Iraq war, and – finally – visiting his so-called homeland as an adult.
It’s an extremely polished introduction to Al-Habib and his talents; perhaps a little too smooth and slickly engineered, wanting some grit in its machine. A factor in that may be its flirting-with-formulaic familiarity as a second-generation narrative. Which isn’t to doubt the truth and emotional significance to our host of the stories he tells of feeling shame at his Iraqi background when the country was at war with the UK and of trying to pass as white British to fit in. If any of this sounds tormented, it certainly isn’t in the telling: Al-Habib’s touch couldn’t be lighter as he cracks wise about Margaret Thatcher’s contraceptive value, Jack Grealish as a Brummie archetype, and how his father learned to love Jewish people.
