Extreme Prevention at the 2010 Brighton Fringe
Live Review
Brighton The Temple

This sketch show is a product of the MUJU crew, a London-based theatre group that has won awards for its laudable work in bringing young Muslim and Jewish performers together.

But the question is not what a good idea this is, but how funny the end product. And, unfortunately, its narrow terms of reference and flabby scripts make the show a frustrating experience, despite the best efforts of the lively ad engaging performers.

The theme here is terrorism, with a quote in the programme from an expert explaining that the way combat extremism is to ridicule it – by exposing it as ‘dumb’ and ‘excruciatingly uncool’. Another praiseworthy aim, but coming in the wake of Chris Morris’s bold, nuanced and funny Four Lions movie, Extreme Prevention can only pale by comparison.

The adherence to the suicide bombing theme makes for a predictable brand of comedy. The group’s aim is to mock the attitudes that see every Muslim as a potential terrorist – but in their world, this is the only punchline. One character can’t help but refer to his jihadist past, even when asked to complete a customer satisfaction survey; a schoolboy with affection for his rucksack is assumed to be a bomber and when a pregnant woman has a scan the doctor sees signs of – guess what? – extremism.

The scenes often have long and convoluted set-ups, with few laughs. Plus there’s often the suspicion they are putting point-making ahead of the comedy. And as the ads say, if you suspect it, report it, so I am…

But when they allow themselves some latitude to deviate from their avowed agenda, the results are equally flaky. A man calling in to a government-backed ‘extremist helpline’ to ask advice about an honour killing, to be let off with a verbal warning is bizarre and humour-free, especially given the bleakness of the subject matter while the sister scene when a Jewish man rings in to complain about having his dick stuck in a bagel is as nonsensical and puerile as it sounds.

The only notably good sketch involves two young Muslim girls, seeing no problems with holding fundamental beliefs while embracing all the trappings of Western culture. ‘Yeh, I’m going to Ibiza,’ one of them says defensively. ‘But on my way to Haj.’ Though this scene is let down by culminating in yet another reference to suicide bombing, the characters are more credible than most, and brought to life by the talented actresses.

In fact, the whole cast – Josh Azouz, Raphael Bar, Georgina Bednar, Yasmeen Khan, Rached Segal, Salman Siddiqui and Samira Sissala – are so much better than their material. Versatile, engaging and able to make even the broadest stereotype broadly human, they inject life into the show that the gags will never do.