Dizzy, Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse Sheffield Review

Sera Mustafa and Brendan Barclay in Dizzy, © Chris Saunders

Reviewed by Kirsty for Theatre and Tonic

Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review

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It is always exciting to watch new and exciting theatre but even more so when the piece of theatre is aimed at engaging young people and bringing their voices to life. Theatre Centre have made their return to Sheffield Theatres, for their fourth collaboration and their second in 2024.

Dizzy has been written by Olivier Award nominated writer Mohamed-Zain Dada, and tells the story of dealing with loss and understanding grief. Dada based the story of 15 year Qamar and her unlikely companion Stax on numerous conversations with young people across the UK which has undoubtedly created an extremely well rounded and emotionally strong piece of theatre. 

Sera Mustafa portrayed Qamar with an emotional intelligence which was captivating from start to finish, especially in the “dream” sequences where she hears Dizzy (voiced by Reda Elazouar). Her realisation that she is losing Dizzy’s voice and her connection to him was truly heart wrenching, especially if you have experienced a close bereavement.

Brendan Barclay as Stax, the graffiti artist who is emotionally closed off and standoffish when we first meet him. However, as the piece moves we learn that Stax and Qamar share a bond over the loss of Dizzy, and we also learn that Stax has also suffered a very personal loss. Through his and Qamar’s journey to honour Dizzy, Stax shows Qamar that her previous ideas of the underground graffiti scene are misplaced and that there is always a place for us to remember those who we have lost. They effortlessly shared the stage, and you couldn’t help rooting for them to create Dizzy’s ultimate memorial. Hannah Sibai’s set design was used with maximum effectiveness and Jess Brigham’s lighting design created just the right atmosphere throughout.

Dizzy is an exciting and incredibly relevant piece of theatre, which should be on every GCSE or A Level curriculum. The performance I attended had an audience made up primarily of college and school students, and they were truly engaged throughout. I truly hope that this piece has a long life ahead of it, and it would be very interesting to allow the script to be used in Drama classes to see what students could bring to the piece. 

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆