Asif Khan’s adaptation of Zanib Man’s book first launched to the stars at the Leeds Playhouse with intergalactic backup from Unicorn Theatre and, of course, our own much-loved space station, the Birmingham Rep. “Planet Omar” has blossomed into five much loved children’s books whose creator, who studied Molecular Cell Biology, has developed further titles and appeared on BBC’s CBeebies Bedtime Stories. Omar is a fantastically imaginative 8-year-old boy of British Pakistani Muslim heritage who is forever getting into scrapes, scraps and escapades. His family has moved to a new neighbourhood entailing a tsunami of new experiences – including a new school, a bully and a very unfriendly neighbour. How Omar navigates his way through these obstacles is revealed in this new play directed by Sameena Hussain, freelance theatre director and facilitator from West Yorkshire.
The set dominated proceedings and twists and turns into numerous shapes and locations providing much enjoyment and intrigue for the young audience. And though the play bills itself as a comedy the few laughs available are only enjoyed by the grown ups and then by way of encouraging their youngsters to laugh. The laughter is sporadic and vague and the actor’s voices struggled to compensate for a unnecessarily loud sound track of music and effects which would work well for TV but draws focus off the core of the play – the actors. The tempo rarely fluctuates and a lack of ebb and flo leaves us with a sense of tonal saminess, throughout. The play pops with great physicality (and puppetry) but suffers from occasional theatrical conceits, of which the young viewers had no understanding and to which they were not introduced, which slowed down the comprehension.
The cast are vibrant and buoyant and relentlessly energetic and packed the show with verve, but without restraint leaving us with a sense of one long stream of thoughts and ideas. For those from a different cultural background, elements of Muslim life and devotion were introduced with care and gentle guidance making those moments essential and important and when Omar is confronted by his bully inflicting strong racial slurs the play takes off, the drama starts and the audience sit forward ready to engage. Sadly, that moment lasts a few minutes before we were back to the episodic plot which suffers, I suspect, from a strict adherence to the book.
It’s great we’re getting kids into the theatre, though the audience was thin this afternoon, and great we’re embracing cultural differences, but we need a little more humour and invention to really get them wanting to return for more. https://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/
Reviewer: Peter Kinnock
Reviewed: 18th June 2026
North West End UK Rating: