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Daughters of Eve
Necessary Targets, a play written by Eve Ensler (of The Vagina Monologues fame) was staged in Karachi last week at the Commune Artist Colony. The play tells the story of two American women — a self-described trauma counsellor, Melissa, and a Park Avenue psychiatrist, J.S., who go off to counsel a group of women in war-torn Bosnia for rather unrealistic reasons.
For Melissa, this is a chance to add another chapter to a book she has been writing on war-torn refugees from all over the world. For J.S., it is just an opportunity she wants to explore and, apparently, a way she can diversify her clientele. The duo assumes that they will go to Bosnia, play saviour, return back to the US and remain unaffected. As it turns out, they’re both wrong.
Contrary to their expectations, the Bosnian women they are counselling are not as quite as warm — or needy — as they anticipated. They don’t exactly welcome the presence of the two American women. In fact, truth be told, they are quite weary of Americans who constantly intrude upon their lives, and move on once they get their stories.
However, predictably enough, after some initial hiccups, all six Bosnian women slowly let the Americans into their lives and relive their various painful memories — whether it is a shattered mother who has lost her child, an old woman who constantly laments the loss of her cow, Blossom, or even a hostile ex-doctor who is peeved at having to be a patient.
The storyline of the play was, for the most part, fairly typical — the two American heroines run off to a poor land to save everyone, only to realise certain valuable, life-altering lessons that change their lives forever, thus “learning” something about themselves and seeing life in a totally different way.
Advertised as a play, the logistics of Necessary Targets were slightly confusing. For one thing, and shoot me for being ignorant, a play usually involves a set where actors move around and interact with each other with the aid of sets, props and the works.
A reading, on the other hand is just that: a reading (actors read a script, and do not interact physically).
Necessary Targets, in this case, fell in between: wherever convenient, the actors physically interacted (given that the play/reading comprised seven actors seated in a row, interaction was somewhat limited).
What worsened the entire effect was the presence of a narrator who boomed out lines such as “the women were sitting in a room drinking coffee” rather indifferently.
(How about investing in a couple of cups? Not only would they have lent the play - or was it a reading? - with atmosphere, it would also have spared the audience from having to visualise their own versions of dainty or, for that matter, chipped coffee cups…)
However, I digress. Whatever the play/reading lacked in logistics was made up by the performances, which were, for the most part, exceptional, and almost saved the entire affair from being a two-dimensional tirade that reeked of newspaper reportage rather than being a testament of the conflicts faced by a variety of complex women in a war-torn homeland.
For her part Atiqa Odho positively shone as the carnally inclines woman who rationalises her husband’s violent abuse as a consequence of war. Sadly, her role wasn’t developed as one would have wished.
Raheen Mani was equally believable as an elderly woman who transfers all her war-torn fears onto her departed cow, Blossom. Raheen successfully managed to simultaneously conjure up a smile and evoke a sense of sadness with her well tuned performance, although, at times, her character’s constant bemoaning was grating to the ears.
Similarly, Ayeshah Alam, as the headstrong doctor who resents being in the patient’s chair for once is admirable. (Cynics may say that the role was tailor made for Ayeshah keeping in mind her personality, but I don’t agree…) Ayeshah manages to convey the taut restraint of emotions effectively - and effortlessly.
Umbreen Butt was equally adept, conveying the confusion that her dual identities posed. However, Nadia Jamil’s performance was one that really stood out. Not only did she manage to convey the loss and bereavement of her character, it was clear that Nadia was perhaps the only one who managed to overcome a limited script by developing her character through her considerable talents, taking the character to a level higher than that envisioned by the writer.
The most underdeveloped characters - and perhaps the most important ones - were those of the two American women - partly as a result of underdeveloped script, and partly as a result of a lack of chemistry between them.
While Munizeh Sinai’s communicates an almost teenage angst, Anna Bertmar Khan never really managed to overcome her stage awkwardness even during the course of the most emotional of scenes.
Performances aside, the play - or was it a reading? - did fall prey to a number of technical glitches - such as sound fluctuations, background noises etc. However, I can’t help but mention that among the so-called educated audiences, there were still some who haven’t yet understood the fact that it is extremely rude, not to mention distracting, to leave cell phones on.
But all in all, the performances managed to keep the audience captivated. It truly was reassuring to see such world class performances emerging in Pakistan.
And thankfully, none of the performances were quite as insipid and characterless as the crab salad that was served prior to the performance. But that, as they say, in another story altogether.
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