For a theatre production which touts itself as being “controversial”, the Islam Dilemma does not hit the mark. In fact, the title, too, seem like a misnomer. Even if there is a hint of dilemma in any of the characters in this Serious Comedy Studio production, those doubts are wrapped up so neatly by the end of every scene that all that is missing is a big cheery bow. There is little room for dilemmas in this play, it all does seem black and white. The show revolves around the lives of four pairs – the non-Muslims, the ultra-Malays, the moderate Muslims and the interracial couple – and starts promisingly with two parallel conversations. Potent first scene The nons – Indran (Gana Prakash) and Christopher (Law Yen Yang) – chat about a news article about a cow head placed in front of a Hindu home by those heinous Malays who are trampling on everyone else’s rights. At the same time, sitting at a vantage point, ultra-Malays – Roslan (Nabil Zakaria) and Faizal (Mohd Faizal) – very convincingly spew vitriol about those dastardly Hindus building temples everywhere and others challenging Islam and Malays. The metaphor of the first scene is potent. Here are a couple of young Malays claiming they are threatened, yet speaking from a higher more privileged position. So striking is this first scene, that one even forgives Indran’s seemingly forced lecture about how the Christians have been using ‘Allah’ before Islam’s existence. Preaching to the audience Sadly, the depth of the first scene is absent in the rest of the play, starting swiftly with the introduction of Wanni (Wanni Huang) and Fadhilah (Fadhilah Adriana), two members of the Hidayah Centre, a body which preaches Islam. (Hidayah Centre and Ikram are supporters of the play.) There will be several scenes where Wanni and Fadilah separately speak of moderation to the non-Muslims and the ultra-Malays alike but ultimately, it is the audience who would be severely aware that they are being preached to. So literal and was the plot and dialogue that even a romantic scene between a young couple gets turned into a ‘let’s learn about Islam’ session befitting a slot in the now defunct TV Pendidikan. The most unfortunate victims of this on the surface approach to the subject was what should have been the heart of the story – the relationship between the Muslim Aila (Puteri Iryanti) and Christian Benjamin (Rajeganesh). After five years of dating, the couple decide to tie the knot but by law, Benjamin needs to convert to Islam. He is happy to – “Anything for you babe” – but Aila does not want him to embrace Islam for her. She wants him to fall in love with Islam first. Both the actors do well in their roles, but again, the script by writer, producer and director Santhira Morgan does not give them room to do much at all. In between the five pillars of Islam and who the Prophet Muhammad is, we hardly know who Aila or Benjamin are. Do we even care if they marry? Character jeopardised This touch-and-go approach may have even jeopardised Wanni’s character as the lovely, pious and moderate Muslim young woman (who by the way, seems happy to visit with two men she is not related to without fear of religious police knocking on the door). When Indran asks her about terrorism, Wanni says Muslims are taught to defend other Muslims. Of course, there is no exploration of this. She simply says ‘The US attacked Iraq and other Muslims defend Iraqis’ and likewise for Palestine, but some may shift uncomfortably in their seats wondering if she just justified terrorism. She also brushes off Indran and Christopher’s doubts about hudud by saying “what’s wrong with wanting to try” and that is that. And yet the non-Muslim duo, who purposely asked those question to rattle her, take her answers wholesale and wax lyrically about how sweet and wonderful she is after she hands them ‘Tuhan Untuk Semua’ and ‘The ‘Illustrated Guide to Islam’ - two of the various books promoted in the show. Jarring interventions Similarly, it takes Benjamin mere minutes to convince Indran, his father, to give his blessings for him to convert to Islam. Benjamin, too, changed his ‘I don’t need to learn about Islam to marry you’ stance after Aila tells him that Cat Stevens, Jermaine Jackson and a host of academics converted to Islam, all with the help of power point slides generously shared with the audience. Indran drops to his knees after okaying his son’s conversion and says ‘Forgive me, God’ but this potentially powerful scene is cut after merely a second by jarring cheery up tempo music and pantomime actors who come on for every scene change. The show is amateurish and a quick look on Serious Comedy Studio’s Facebook page indicates that some or maybe all of the actors are first-timers. While plus points can be given Puteri Iryanti, Rajeganesh, Mohd Faizal and Nabil Zaharin, at no point in the play is the audience able to suspend belief. One is constantly aware that those on stage are just mouthing dialogue, just acting. This is not a polished professional production and clearly does not pretend to be. Ultimately though, one gets the idea that maybe theatre and all its artistry is not the goal of this production. Perhaps the ultimate goal is to preach moderation and kindness and to dispel misconceptions about Islam. As Wanni says in one scene: “Let others people do what they want to do. It is between them and God. You take care of your relationship with God, and I take care of my relationship with God.” The Islam Dilemma (Serious Comedy Studio) will be showing at Penang Performance Arts Centre on March 21, 8.30pm. Tickets are priced at RM130. Call 04-899 1722 for more information.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 00:23:11 +0000
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