'Disgraced': Daring play spotlights the unease of faith and politics
The most produced play in the United States right now doesn鈥檛 send audiences away humming a happy tune. Instead, they鈥檙e left trying to catch their breath and come to grips with what they鈥檝e just witnessed.
The lead character in the 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama 鈥淒isgraced,鈥� a successful Muslim American New York lawyer named Amir, spends the play鈥檚 90 taut minutes slowly dissolving聽before the audience鈥檚 eyes, his repressed feelings about his childhood religion and culture surfacing to torment him and everyone around him.
In the 2015-16 season, 鈥淒isgraced鈥� is being performed on 18 stages around the United States, making it the year鈥檚 most popular play, according to a survey of regional theaters by American Theatre magazine. (Perennial productions such as Shakespeare and holiday specials such as 鈥淎 Christmas Carol鈥� were not counted.) An HBO film version is also in the works.
Why is the play so popular? An obvious answer is that it has become even more topical as fears and suspicions about Muslims rise and politicians call for a halt to their immigration into the US.
Early in the play audiences learn that wealthy and successful Amir has rejected Islam and now ridicules its teachings. He鈥檚 worldly and affable. He鈥檚 changed his last name and told colleagues at his firm that he鈥檚 from India, not Pakistan. But his fragile fraud finally implodes.
鈥淭he trick of producing this play effectively is to make the audience fall in love with Amir, then have him terrify them in the final scene,鈥� Ayad Akhtar, the author of 鈥淒isgraced,鈥� recently told the Seattle Times.
鈥淭he play does very artfully push buttons,鈥� says Rajesh Bose, who is appearing as Amir in a production of 鈥淒isgraced鈥� at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston through聽Feb. 7. 鈥淣obody leaves the play indifferent鈥�. Everybody has something they want to [say] about it.鈥�
Amir鈥檚 journey is complex, open to many interpretations and points of view. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such a great role,鈥� Mr. Bose says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like playing Richard III or Othello or Hamlet or something like that.鈥�
How the play is experienced depends in part on the viewpoint each audience member brings into the theater. 鈥淲hen the meaning of the art lies in the audience, then meaning is highly individual and will depend on factors beyond the author鈥檚 control such as the age, ethnicity, religion, and political leanings of the audience member,鈥� says Lisa Timmel, the Huntington鈥檚 director of new work.聽
In a fit of rage near the end of the play, Amir surprises himself as much as his non-Muslim wife and dinner guests when he blurts out that he is proud of the 9/11 attack. At that instant the audience 鈥渟tops breathing for a second,鈥� Bose says. 鈥淎ll the actors on stage feel that鈥�. We all feel the energy of what the play is doing.鈥�
Some of his friends in the Muslim community, Bose says, have questioned whether Amir will be unfairly taken as representative of Muslims as a whole.聽
Amir 鈥渟pits on a Jew. Twice,鈥� Bose says, and late in the play commits a shocking and violent act. Why is this the only representation of a Muslim man we鈥檙e seeing on stage, his Muslim friends ask. 鈥淭he conundrum is that this becomes 鈥榯he鈥� story, not 鈥榓鈥� story among many鈥� about Muslim Americans, he says. He hopes that 鈥淒isgraced鈥� will inspire other works about the Muslim experience in America.
Still, 鈥淒isgraced鈥� is serving an important role, Bose says. 鈥淲hat heartens me about this play is that it always leads to dialogue,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople might have an initial take but then the more they talk about it, it leads to something else. There are no pat answers to anything.聽
鈥淭he play doesn鈥檛 answer any questions. It just asks them.鈥�
