The reviews are in for A Tupperware of Ashes, Tanika Gupta’s new play, a family drama about life, immigration and the Indian spiritual cycle of death and rebirth that stars Meera Syal as the ambitious Michelin-Star chef, Queenie.
Take a look at what the critics are saying below.
A Tupperware of Ashes – National Theatre: Review Round-up
The Times ★★★☆☆
“The parallels with King Lear may be a distraction, yet Meera Syal makes such a formidable matriarch that you’re willing to submit to Tanika Gupta’s play about a Michelin-starred British-Bengali restaurant owner who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.”
The Independent ★★★☆☆
“There are few surprises in Tanika Gupta’s play about dementia. The ending’s in the title, and it’s a pretty grimly linear journey to get there.”
Time Out ★★★☆☆
“Syal brings Queenie vividly to life, aided by Gupta avoiding the trap of the ‘saintly sufferer’. She’s fiercely proud and quick to cut her children down with her words. As her condition worsens and her sense of time begins to dislocate, the glimpses of her early years in Calcutta and her memories of the racism she faced when arriving in the UK add a greater poignancy to the loss of the life she has fought to forge.”
London Theatre ★★★★☆
“It could be unrelentingly bleak – and it doesn’t hold back in showing just how debilitating the disease is and how the pandemic robbed countless families of the chance to say goodbye to loved ones – but it’s a highly watchable piece given the subject matter. The tone is remarkably well-balanced with the right amount of light and shade and culturally specific jokes that have universal resonance.”
Broadway World ★★★★☆
“Casting someone of Meera Syal’s acclaim in the role also goes some way to quickly building Queenie’s legend – without saying a word, you can tell that she’s a formidable character. Syal is, quite simply, extraordinary.”
i ★★☆☆☆
“You have revolutionised Indian cuisine in this country,” says omnipresent best friend Indrani (Shobna Gulati) to Queenie (Meera Syal), who is apparently a Michelin-starred chef. Yet the grit, the texture, the lived experience behind the career in this statement are entirely lacking and the play continues in this uninspired and uninspiring way.
A Tupperware of Ashes is at the Dorfman Theatre until 16 November
