MEHNDI is the Muslim equivalent of a hen night, only without the alcopop binges and puke. Fin Kennedy's dramatic poem, written in collaboration with Asian students at the Mulberry School for Girls in London's East End, takes such a crucial social get-together as a starting point from which to explore the multicultural conflicts that can arise when western mores rub up against eastern tradition. It is all seen through the eyes of Ripa, a twentysomething DJ and rapper who eventually comes home for her sister's wedding.
Ripa acts as narrator, too, in this cracking piece of community theatre, which is played in a sparky, out-front style by its vibrant cast of 10 young women. Like some stylised latter-day Muslim take on Jack Rosenthal's Barmitzvah Boy, which captured the Jewish East End so well, Kennedy, director Julia Voce and the cast have crafted a 35-minute meditation on acceptance and reconciliation that's light, bright and is blessed with theatrical verve. As the cast themselves put it so well, life, like a samosa, is for sharing.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article