Ahmed’s play often turns to melodrama.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Religion is a sensitive subject, and must be dealt with sensitively. A lack of subtlety and the absence of a delicate touch can be disastrous when dealing with a topic that can so easily offend people. “Noor,” the highly acclaimed play written by Dr. Akbar Ahmed and directed by Manjula Kumar, and staged at the American University today, often has difficulty maintaining this delicate balancing act, but thanks to a powerful second act, manages to end up on the right side of the line and end up being a worthwhile experience.
Noor, the young daughter of a family of three brothers and a father, has been detained (more like kidnapped) by local military forces in Pakistan (at least I think it’s Pakistan – the characters in the play never say where they are for some reason), forcing her brothers and father to argue about the proper course of action.
Abdullah, a disciple of Sufism, tries to convince his brother Dawood, a hot-blooded borderline fanatic, to trust in Allah that all will turn out well. The third brother, a weak-willed government lawyer who was also temporarily detained with Noor, tries to strike a balance between the polar opposites that his brothers represent, and all try to placate their ailing father by keeping the truth from him out of fear that the shock could kill him.
Ahmed’s script often turns to melodrama when a more realistic approach would have proved more powerful, but such is the nature of theater. Emotions must be big, drama must be hyperbolic, and the actors all do a good job of portraying each of their characters.
Unfortunately, because the characters are meant to be representations of different facets of the global Muslim community, there isn’t much room for character development – all except Dawood are stock creations. But Dawood is a fascinating character; he is an amalgamation of contradictions, a man who denounces Allah repeatedly but is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in His name anyway. His character’s ultimate fate is somewhat muddled, but the character – and the prolifically talented actor portraying him – is always compulsively watchable.
The story takes some strange tangents in an effort to keep things fresh and engaging, although not all work. A brief (and profane) encounter with militants adds little to the story. Abdullah’s brief episode with a Sufi cleric could have been excised without being missed, and one of the brothers completely disappears at the film’s climax for reasons unexplained. Ahmed’s dialogue lacks subtlety at times, and Kumar’s stage direction is perfunctory. But all said and done, there is far more to praise about “Noor” than there is to criticize. “Noor” has its flaws, but it is an overall satisfying experience that has important things to say about Islam in the modern world.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com