Brighton Fringe 2026
Are you even Indian?
MoCa Productions
Genre: Comedy, Contemporary, Drama, Movement, Physical Theatre, Theatre
Venue: The Actors: Theatre
Festival: Brighton Fringe
Low Down
Review
In a very witty and highly visual mix of repartee and dance a couple wrangle over who they are – in terms of nationality that is, and tell the story of their relationship.
There are fully explored questions of heritage here – what makes you what you are? – is it the colour of your skin, the food, the jokes , where you live, where you were born?
Neetika Knight, a British born Indian woman speaks longly of an India she’s visited, all those amazing cities, like Bombay, while Mohit Mathur, an Indian born man speaks of a country he has left behind,all those crowded cities – like Mumbai. You’ll note the difference in the names for the same city – one’s the old colonial name. And as Neetika says being third generation British (the question and response session by which Mohit establishes this with her is a comic gem on its own) means you will be asked which cricket team you support but there is no right answer. Mohit has come over from India, he’s an engineer who wants to make it in the UK, and right from the start he challenges her, in his eyes, romanticised view of India.
It’s a two-hander that segues between snappy dialogue and great dance routines, the dance underpinning the script, moving the story on and sometimes doing all this while being a spectacle in its own right, an explosion of music and movement on the stage. The experience of being Indian and brown skinned in Britain is the core of the show, but this is a romantic relationship that grows from a hilarious speed dating scene, where the one liners fly out at speed, to a marriage with a child. And there are universals in this, not only their argument as to where to bring their child up but the age-old arguments as to who does the washing up, who prepares the meals. As says at the beginning, I’ve seen too many women’s lives wasted with men who don’t know how to cook or clean, Mohit retorts that he’s always had a maid and a cook back in India so it’s not his fault. The fact that he has to change, and does change (I think) makes us root for the relationship.
The dance is high octane and energetic, soft and romantic where it needs to be, all within the confines of quite a small stage at the Actors,but there are no missteps. There’s proper choreography here with some entertaining and joyful set pieces like the wedding dance. Neetika and Mohit keep the pace up and the audience is manifestly laughing and cheering them on throughout.
There are many different sections as we follow their relationship, all pointed intelligent and entertaining – in a review you don’t want to give away all the jokes, and the humour is always more than just jokes, it’s sharp and insightful at times, gentle at others, which gives a nice variation in mood and feel throughout the production.
This cultural conflict between this British born Indian woman and the Indian born man does not go away, it’s stitched deeply in their lives perhaps coming to an uncomfortable head when Neetika says she wants to bring their child up in India. All this is set against darker flashes of racism and intolerance in Britain today, and Neetika ‘s painful experiences growing up as a brown skinned girl in Britain. This conflict is, rightly I think, left unresolved at the end which leaves you with a sense of uncertainty and unease. The production doesn’t provide easy answers (although it does celebrate their love and life together in a warm but unsentimental way – it’s not all doom and gloom), but the humour and intelligence of the script makes it all bearable and understandable without explaining everything away.
Mohit and Neetika are instantly believable and accessible as characters on the stage ( all the more impressive since Neetika was a last minute replacement – I would never have known unless told). Off the stage as it were, the mix of Leigh Toney ‘s direction, and Mohit’s writing and choreography is impressive and great to witness. It’s a very rounded show altogether.
Are You Even Indian was the recipient of the Duncan’s Artist of the Global Majority Bursary frmo Brighton Fringe
