How to be Famous! (when your parents don’t have a Wikipedia Page") at Pleasance Theatre, London Review
Written by Alex for Theatre and Tonic.
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review. All opinions are our own.
How to Be Famous! (When Your Parents Don't Have a Wikipedia Page) is a 60-minute piece from Side eYe Productions, an award-winning new writing collective staging stories by Muslims and collaborating with Black Muslim women, written and performed by Adna Ahmed. It follows Nala, a young woman with big comedy ambitions and a life that keeps getting in the way.
Ahmed is central to the show, and the role fits her. Nala feels stuck and hopeful in equal measure. She is relatable and is easy to root for. The writing is witty, and its best moments are often found in the accuracy of small interactions: a wealthy friend who swears positive thinking is the only thing you need for success, a mother whose expectations are met only by lying.
Fathiya Saleh plays every character besides Nala in the piece, shifting between them with great consistency and humour. The minimalist staging enables the two performers to take us from place to place, with a great use of lighting and sound carrying the weight of staging. This, paired with a healthy amount of pop culture references, makes the world of the play feel real. Phone calls and voice notes feature in the storytelling. The cabaret layout of the Pleasance pays off most when Nala performs her set and the real audience becomes her fictional one.
The ending remains open to interpretation, and can read as either hopeful or unresolved.
How to Be Famous! is sharp and very funny. The writing is the real strength here, though the acting occasionally feels a little uneven.
How to Be Famous! (When Your Parents Don't Have a Wikipedia Page) is running at Pleasance Theatre London, 17-20 June 2026.