Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 30): Mon 18 – Mon 25 Aug 2025
Review by Orna Clarke
Chatterbox is an eye-opening, extremely personal hour of storytelling by Lubna Kerr in the Pleasance Courtyard Green, in which she reflects on growing up as a Pakistani immigrant in 1970s Glasgow.
The child-friendly (eight and over) one-woman show tackles the profound impacts of bullying and racism on their child victims, both immediately and continuing into their adult lives.
Dressed in school uniform as her younger self, Kerr shifts between addressing the audience directly and recreating scenes from her upbringing, playing herself and a selection of her parents, teachers and peers. She details her experience of racist bullying at school, and love, encouragement and the weight of expectation at home.
Lubna Kerr – Chatterbox publicity image. Pic: Colin Hattersley.
Cultural references place the show in its era, as Kerr describes reading Enid Blyton books and her father’s conversion of LP records to cassette tapes.
The darkest notes are lightened by Kerr’s humour and honesty. She describes fondly the people that raised her: her father, who moved to the UK to study at the University of Strathclyde; her mother, who later became the first female Quran scholar in Scotland; and Albert, the kindly greengrocer whose shop was a place of solace for Kerr during the worst of the bullying.
The darkness comes when she embodies her past self, full of anxiety and grief, wringing hands and stuttering; and when she reenacts some of the horrific treatment she received, not only from her fellow students, but teachers, too.
There are anecdotes many will relate to: Kerr’s desire to wear makeup like her friend, or having to carry her guitar around in a black bin bag because she’s missing a cover for it. But much of what she describes from her peers, and especially her teachers, is truly shocking.
It grows from individual ignorance – Kerr delivers micro-aggressions from ‘Jeanie the friendly racist’ with humour – and escalates to harrowing displays of systemic racism, as she is dismissed and silenced by teachers who make no effort to disguise their attitudes.
a sense of irony
A striking moment sees Kerr speak Urdu while embodying her Scottish teacher, demonstrating how she felt when spoken to harshly in English, a language she didn’t understand at the time.
Though the piece is more theatre than comedy, there are some well-landed gags – Kerr telling Albert he better be careful with turmeric if he’s a Celtic fan, and a wink-nudge comparison between the Pakistani and UK governments for ‘signing contracts worth millions for something they don’t even know will work.’
Kerr recounts much of her experience with a sense of irony, such as when she was accused of cheating on her IQ test because she’d got such a brilliant result – a test that, she explains, ‘was developed by old white men to measure the intelligence of those native to the countries they invaded.’
Kerr effectively conveys the spiritual, physical and emotional impacts of bullying and racism on children, and how these can manifest in victims’ later lives. What’s remarkable about the hour is that she’s never bitter or vengeful – she doesn’t try to psychoanalyse her bullies.
In fact, her reflections don’t dwell on them at all, but focus on her own feelings. Rather than being an exposé of their behaviour, it’s a quiet celebration of her own resilience.
Running time: One hour (no interval).
Pleasance Courtyard (The Green), 60 Pleasance EH8 9TJ (Venue 33).
Wednesday 30 July – Monday 25 August 2025.
Daily (Not 19): 1pm.
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Book here on EdFest.com.*
Lubna Kerr website: www.lubnakerr.co.uk
Facebook: @lubna.kerr
Instagram: @lubnakerr
*affiliate link.
ENDS