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A ‘test’ of strength
Testing Positive, a play by Christopher Isaac was recently staged in Karachi. Organised by the Marie Stopes Society, the play aimed to educate the audience about facts pertaining to HIV and Aids and how the virus is transmitted and causes the disease.
The play revolves around four characters — Christopher (Momin Zafar), Amanda (Fateeha Beg), Andrew (Sami Shah) and Julia (Insha Hamdani) — who are “apparently” theatre folk, performing Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Ultimately, Romeo is played by both male and female characters as is Juliet. Between practices, the characters share their (tedious) life histories with each other.
Christopher is gay; he is also HIV-positive. As a result, he has to take at least 40 tablets a day to stay alive. He also speaks of his past lovers — how they all died of Aids (or perhaps they died because they had to listen to his monotone). Similarly, the other characters also share their past experiences, their perception of Aids and how it has changed, and the stereotypes associated with the disease.
Sadly though, although the play is one that has received critical acclaim, the biggest compliment it can boast to have received in Pakistan is that some people actually managed to sit through it. The performances, for the most part, were abysmal. There was no chemistry between the characters; they seemed to have adopted monotones throughout its entirety. And worse was the fact that the characters never ceased to be actors on a stage — they never managed to evolve into real, passionate characters mainly because they were merely reciting lines, and that too, to the audience, never to each other.
While at times it seemed that ‘Testing Positive’ vainly attempted to overcome stereotyping, the fact of the matter is that some of its gay characters were extremely flamboyant. Interestingly enough, the play also aimed to overcome the popular perception that Aids is a gay disease. However, this seems rather contradictory when you realise that the only character who is suffering from Aids in the play is gay
This was particularly disturbing, given that the play was about a complex, stigma-ridden medical condition that claims millions of lives every year. Additionally, while at times it seemed that the play vainly attempted to overcome stereotyping, the fact of the matter is that some of its gay characters were extremely flamboyant. Interestingly enough, the play also aimed to overcome the popular perception that Aids is a ‘gay disease’. However, this seems rather contradictory when you realise that the only character who is suffering from Aids in the play is gay.
Clearly, the main flaw was that the play was badly produced and directed, a piece of painfully obvious amateur work. However, to give credit where it’s due, the effort to bring a play such as Testing Positive to the stage is a commendable one, considering its controversial content. Aids is still a medical condition that many Pakistanis tend to shun or place aside as taboo let alone consider contracting; and creating awareness about it is a praiseworthy endeavour.
For the sake of the audience, however, perhaps the Marie Stopes Society could have had mercy on them by screening a documentary on Aids or, preferably, a film such as Philadelphia or even My Brother Nikhil, instead of subjecting them to the tiring and seemingly never-ending torture. Credit goes to those who had the courage and patience to stick throughout the hour-long torture, for somehow resisting the urge to leave the play midway.
However, given that the play was enacted in English (and with flurries of Shakespeare at that, which were horribly rendered by the cast, probably resulting in the Bard rolling in his grave), and attended primarily by the supposed privileged class of Karachi (they were the only ones invited), perhaps many of them did not really benefit from the information the play provided. Most probably were already aware of the facts and figures. Perhaps it would have been wiser for the Society to actually stage the play in Urdu and to an audience that was actually unaware of how one catches the infection, and its repercussions.
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