THEATRE | CULTURE
Is Dat U Yh? review — A nostalgic, hilarious, introspective love letter to South London and the 2000s
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
While on the surface this play may seem like a simple comedy that tugs on your nostalgia for laughs, it slowly morphs into a profound exploration of growing up, responsibility, and the priceless value of teenage memories.
Is Dat U Yh? takes the audience back to the 2000s as we follow Tia, Reena, Tolu, and Debz — four young black women from South London formerly known as the “Back of the Bus Queens” — as they reminisce on their school years, a time when laughter was free and nonsense was all they knew, but because at the time they were all so quick to grow up, they didn’t appreciate the memories that they were living at the time.
Without a doubt, the greatest triumph of Is Dat U Yh? comes in the performances given by the four leads Zakiyyah Deen (Tia), Rachael Ridley (Reena), Antonia Layiwola (Tolu), and Adeola Yemitan (Debz). In a smaller, more intimate play like Is Dat U Yh? the actors have even more heavy lifting required as there isn’t the glitz and glam of the West End to hide behind and it’s an understatement to say that the four actresses do not disappoint.
In something that hasn’t been done since The Inbetweeners, everyone in the audience knows one of the characters in the play whether it be a sibling, the person you sat behind in class, or even yourself. Deen’s, Ridley’s, Layiwola’s, and Yemitan’s performances serve as hilarious time capsules.
From their comedic timing, their ability to bounce off of each other and the audience, seamlessly switch between the adult and teenage versions of the characters, or even how they have to play multiple characters, these actresses embody everything about that 2000s, teenage, Black-Londoner experience in the funniest hour and ten minutes one can experience.
Just as great as the performances, is writer-director dkfash’s writing. Dkfash uses the familiarity of teenagehood to tell the ironic tale of how teenagers want to be adults, and adults would give anything to go back to their bill-free school days. Whether it’s starting a dance group with your mates, partaking in school versus school warfare, or being your mate's wingman at a party everything about dkfash’s latest endeavour oozes with that authentic London, teenage, school experience.
Even the title alone, “Is Dat U Yh?”, reflects the authenticity of the play. The language the characters use feels natural. You can tell that the makers of the play lived the very life the characters did. This is a love letter to the naughties, South London, and Black-British culture as much as it is a play.
However, what’s even more impressive is how it doesn’t get lost in the nostalgia. This could very easily have just been “2000s Trivia: The Play” but dkfash’s sensibility as a writer allows her to stay focused. Yes, the play is full of old hits and one-liners that reference things like Spice Up Your Life and the London Trocadero but it never just becomes that. Every reference and every call back is done with intention and done to tell the story, not just for cheap laughs.
Jahmiko Marshall’s lighting design & Xana’s sound design also deserve recognition as they enhance the atmosphere of the auditorium, dkfash’s writing, and the actors’ performances. Especially in the time-travelling scenes where the lights shift colours, a spiral is projected onto the curtains, and a montage of sounds from the past play: from 21 Seconds to the Mortal Kombat theme to the SEGA startup sound, all distorted to make it feel like you’re time-warping back to the mid-2000s.
While I honestly have no cons about the play itself, I do think that walking into the play, a viewer’s proximity to this time period and moment in Black British culture will shape their view of the play.
As a Black Briton born in 2005, I understood a solid amount of the references and experiences the characters underwent whether it’s having African parents comparing you to your siblings or the excitement one would get from Tenesse Chicken after school. However, I doubt the nostalgia elements would hit as hard for someone not from that time, place, or culture meaning the story might not cut as deep for some as it does for others. Although I’m sure one could impose their teenage experiences over the characters’.
Dkfash’s Is Dat U Yh? is a hilarious, poetic, introspective trip down memory lane. The audience at my preview was left crying out in laughter and standing in ovation. It is a study of how people are the memories they create. The animated yet grounded performances, the dynamic writing, and the sensual sound and light design all come together in a symphony to remind the audience to enjoy and fully take in the now.
