There are some works of art which one wishes were fiction and Camdenwalla is one of them. The play takes us back to 1990s Camden, when racism against the British-Bangladeshi community was at an all-time high. Amidst police indifference emerged the Camden Monitoring Project, an organisation run by local volunteers which functioned as a helpline of sorts and kept meticulous record of the details of each attack. Camdenwalla is a snapshot of an average night for one of these volunteers, Muhammad, as he races to extinguish the embers of violence before they catch.
The first few minutes of the show perfectly capture the period’s unease. Bhasker Patel, in a truly magnetic turn as Muhammad, tries to go about his routine but gives himself away with fleeting glances towards a locked door, waiting for it to explode. And explode it does, with a surprise visit from his niece Alima, played by an electric Nusrath Tapadar. The intergenerational dynamic between them provides much-needed comic relief and acts as a canvas for the playwright, Jonny Khan, to ask the play’s central question: what is the value of incremental resistance in the face of an insurmountable adversary? As the characters debate their fraternity unravels and the single set staging is particularly effective in helping build tension.
While Camden People’s Theatre is known for its emphasis on community-driven theatre, Camdenwalla stands out. The play is fully captioned in Bangla to enable those involved in the Camden Monitoring Project—which, incidentally, was run out of the same building— to experience the dramatisation of their work in their native tongue. The script is another testament to this mission, highlighting the injustice without ever being didactic.
Camdenwalla holds space for the hardship and joy of immigrant life and is an important piece of work which deserves all the praise it is sure to get.
Camdenwalla runs until 4th July 2026, and tickets can be found at https://cptheatre.co.uk/whatson/CAMDENWALLA
Reviewer: Saloni Sanwalka
Reviewed: 18th June 2026
North West End UK Rating:
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