Review: Brown Boys Swim at Contact is ‘a beautiful story of self acceptance and pride’

Brown Boys Swim is an amazing show with a beautiful story filled with brown heritage and two incredible performers.

I wish I could sum up this show with just wow but unfortunately, I cannot.

But that is a word I would use to describe this impeccable show!

Absolutely everything about this show was incredible and I really cannot find the words to express just how amazing it was.

Brown Boys Swim is about two young boys who learn how to swim for a party they want to attend that a classmate is throwing.

It is written by Karim Khan and directed by John Hoggarth.

Karim Khan did a fantastic job at encapsulating the brown culture and language.

I felt like I was on stage talking to my brown friends. It made the show more authentic and really sold it.

James Bailey is to be applauded for the lighting of this show. He uses the swimming pool which has two strips of neon lights that he would change throughout the show. There was also smoke that they
used to make the stage look mysterious.

There were different colours that were used but every one of them had a purpose.

It was just incredible.

Kashif Ghole who plays Kash, is the comedian of the show.

But he’s also the brown kid who wants to break the stereotype of brown people.

He loves being brown but he also wants white people to like him, so he’ll do things that he shouldn’t be doing to get their approval.

Kashif does an incredible job at capturing the inner turmoil of trying to accept your culture without jeopardising any relationships he has with his white classmates. He was perfect.

Ibraheem Hussain plays Mohsen and he is also incredible.

He plays the other half of brown people who are very proud of who they are and refuse to change in any form but are very angry about the way society sees them.

He notices the little things and calls everything racist which it can be.

Some people don’t realise the harm that stereotyping can do to people. He was fantastic and he did indeed make shed a tear.

I loved seeing the difference between both Mohsen and Kash as it showcases the two types of brown people and how we handle our culture.

It was very refreshing to see two brown people together on stage and it really did feel like I was watching two best friends tell their story.

Are there moments that only brown people would understand? Yes. But that’s the beauty of it. This show is made for brown people but it’s also a show for people who want to understand the brown community more.

Brown Boys Swim is an excellent show full of happiness and sorrow and it makes you proud to be brown.

Brown Boys Swim is playing until the 28th of October at Contact.

You can get tickets here