★★★★
Kiren Virdee’s Edinburgh Fringe show, Does Anyone Else Smell Curry? is billed as a “raw” and “relevant, reclamation of power” which “deserves a wider audience and a bright future”—I couldn’t agree more!
The show is raw and relevant in the sense that it provides a politically personal insight into what it is like to be a British, Punjabi, Sikh woman in Britain during this current contemporary moment. The show opens with Virdee recalling a throwaway “joke” a friend once said: “does anyone else smell curry?”, whilst referring to Virdee. She laughed it off at the time but Virdee was in fact, not okay with it. Beyond the show’s title, this comment has extreme importance as it introduces to the show the issue of casual racism and the micro-aggressions that people of colour have to experience on a daily basis.
Throughout the show, Virdee experiments with a vast range of multimedia content, voiceovers, physical movement, spoken word and lip sync. It creates a wonderfully engaging and exciting show with a bright future ahead of it, that’s ready to break out of the Fringe and educate the world.
This brings me to my next point: education. This has to be one of the most important shows not only at the Fringe but in contemporary theatre. Virdee is refreshingly honest and doesn’t position herself as a victim, but instead as a strong, independent woman fighting for change and resiliently educating anyone who is willing to listen.
Does Anyone Else Smell Curry? details the joys that Virdee finds in her British-Punjabi-Sikh culture whilst acknowledging her own detachment from her culture too. The section of the show where Virdee dances along to pop-culture music videos that demonstrate the way in which her culture had been appropriated are incredibly striking. It also leads to one of the best lines in the show—“they take everything but leave the person behind”. This articulates Virdee’s frustrations that people are willing to enjoy food from her culture, the music, clothing and film from her culture but dismiss the people who belong to her culture.
Virdee is an exciting, dynamic performer. The show is cleverly compiled and produced with it packing during its 45 minute run time. Despite a few very minor technical hitches and one or two moments of hesitation, it runs smoothly and the transitions tend to complement Virdee’s performance style. Again, these moments reinforce how successful (and impactful) the show would be in a much bigger theatre.
Many shows will promise to inform and widen your knowledge but this show really does—it deserves a spot on the national contemporary or comedy theatre circuit. I urge anyone to catch Does Anyone Else Smell Curry? if and when they can. Virdee opens the show recalling a racist comment that made her the butt of the joke, however, the show ends with her having the last laugh but with love and resilience—showcasing what an incredible talent she is!
Kiren Virdee’s Does Anyone Else Smell Curry? will run until 9 August at Theatre 3 at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.
Words by Cory Gourley
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.