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Theatre

Theatre Review: White Teeth

This adaptation of Zadie Smith's novel lacks bite, says John Nathan

November 8, 2018 13:58
Michele Austin. White Teeth at Kiln Theatre. Photo by Mark Douet _50A1562
1 min read

For the denizens of north London, Zadie Smith’s debut novel of 2000 is local literature. It has landmarks that include Kilburn, Cricklewood and Baker Street.

But the book’s achievement is in combining this familiar setting with a narrative sweep that embraces London’s cultures and three generations of family going back to the grandfathers of Smith’s heroine, dentist Rosie Jones.

Played in this new adaptation by the likeable Amanda Wilkin, Rosie finds that she is pregnant and is soon plunged into a coma by Caribbean Mad Mary, the shaman of Kilburn High Road, who stabs Rosie in the groin with a needle full of anaesthetic.

It is in this state of unconscious hallucination that Rosie searches back in time for the identity of her father, which Irie (Ayesha Antoine), her single-parent mother has never divulged.