The Boy at the Back of the Class at The Lowry Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by H Chan
Passionate, powerful, and incredibly emotional! If I had to sum up this show in under five words, these would be the ones chosen.
Last night I was invited to see The Boy at The Back of the Class at The Lowry theatre in Salford. The theatre is friendly and welcoming, surrounded by a good public transport network, a safe car park and many shops and restaurants. This makes it an ideal place to visit a show.
Based on the 2019 prize winning book by Onjali Q. Rauf, this show follows the of a nine year old girl Alexa, played by Sasha Desouza-Willcock, and her journey becoming the best friend of the new boy who sits at the back of the class, and the story of Ahmet who is a nine year old refugee. Ahmet is played by Farshid Rokey. It is narrated from the children’s point of view.
The actors who played the nine year olds were amazing at capturing the behaviours and energies of the children they were portraying, which made it easy to forget that they were adults playing children. The classroom antics had us giggling, and the challenges met by the characters were handled well, although were very hard hitting. I loved how it was narrated throughout, Sasha has an incredible voice, perfect for the stage. The whole thing was flawless. I loved how that you could relate to their world, everyone knows characters like these in real life and even though I’m not usually a fan of stereotypes, the way they were used in this story really helps get the theming across.
The overall theme was using hope and kindness to change the world. It was hard not to sob your heart out as they tackled some very important messages, about real things happening in the world. I’d recommend bringing tissues, and being prepared to answer lots of questions afterwards, if bringing children. The Website for the touring show, which I have added below, has many educational resources should you need any.
The choreography was fantastic. I also have to add praise for those who played multiple parts, very talented. The use of the stage was brilliant, especially how they used the huge metal gates on stage. It worked really well. I especially loved the football game scene, with the invisible ball.
The recommended age is 7 years plus, I agree with this age rating as the way some of the concepts are brought across might be difficult for younger ones to fully understand, there are also parts where noise and lighting are used to create a dramatic effect and this could frighten younger ones. The show contains scenes with loud or sudden music, which might startle some. There are also cases of derogatory language aimed at Ahmet, which can be triggering.
Tickets can be found here https://thelowry.com/whats-on/the-boy-at-the-back-of-the-class/ and start at only £16.50. This show runs until Saturday March 30th. I definitely recommend our seats, which were on the higher side starting from £28.50, but it was worth it. Saying that, I have sat all over The Lowry and so far haven’t had a poor seat. The show runs for two hours and ten minutes, with a short interval in between. Supporting resources can be found here https://www.theboyatthebackoftheclass.co.uk/#education.
I give this show a rating of 5 out of 5 stars. It is definitely worth watching, and I’d recommend it especially for those still in school as it gets across a lot of important messages in a really clever way.
Photographs taken from The Boy at the Back of the Class website, taken by Photos by Manuel Harlan
https://www.theboyatthebackoftheclass.co.uk/#theshow
https://thelowry.com/whats-on/the-boy-at-the-back-of-the-class/
Rating: 5/5