Review: TRY HARDER, Omnibus Theatre

Photo credit: Southwest Theatre Photography

Try Harder, written and directed by Yusuf Niazi, is a hilarious, truthful, mirror reflection of the crisis that may be called 'young adulthood'. The play follows four young people in a job interview, where they have to fulfil a ludicrous task of moving chairs from one side of the room to the other.

The show, which Niazi staged a year ago in an earlier version, has developed since and it has been impressive to see how far it has come. Advertised as a comedy drama, it certainly delivers. The humour is dark, tightly paced, packed with behavioural quirks and mannerisms that make each character distinct, memorable and relatable, and the style of the humour is reminiscent of the IT crowd in its character's under dog oddities and their environment of a downtrodden workplace. Toby Moran Mylet playing Sam, stands out in his character’s quirks and oddities that have the audience bursting into laughs in this opening scene.

The first 20 minutes or so are highly paced, farcical and really warm the audience up whilst establishing the characters and set up. Niazi then expertly and impressively, almost unnoticeably, segues into a far darker and bleaker tone, through delving deeper into each character's back story (still using the entire ensemble to help narrate in a Brechtian manner) revealing the economic factors at play that put immense pressure on these 20-something characters who are truly, it seems, trying hard. Helen Squires shines in a monologue revealing her character’s own back story and economic pressures, which is expertly performed.

We would encourage you to see this witty, entertaining and thought-provoking new comedy that really does give the spotlight to the current struggles that young people are undertaking.

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Viv Williams

Try Harder plays at the Omnibus Theatre in Clapham until 20 August, with tickets available here.