Review – Mush and Me

A love story between a Palestinian and a Jew – a premise that promises Romeo-and-Juliet against a war-torn West Bank backdrop, but in actuality Mush and Me is nothing of the sort.

Irreligious Jew Gabby (Daniella Isaacs, whose relative inspired the script) and the usually-devout Muslim Mushtaq (Jaz Deol) are the star-crossed lovers, and while they may be of different cultural backgrounds, they both grew up in the UK and first meet in the distinctly unromantic setting of a call centre.

The passion comes on slowly, and maintains a warm, down-to-earth authenticity about it, for which not just the actors but scriptwriter Karla Crome must be given credit. Yes, it is a forbidden love, but unusually for this sort of tale the prejudices of the parents are presented sympathetically, so much so that the decision about whether or not the couple should go public with their tryst becomes a genuinely difficult moral quandary.

The production seamlessly leaps through locales with each scene, and the bare bones set leaves the audience with no distractions from the cliché-free romance unfolding before them.