Disgraced

Disgraced is an explosive, taut piece of drama and as pertinent today as when it was first written in 2012. Filled to the brim with hot-button topics; Islam, radicalization, faith, identity and culture, Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize winning play could not have been more contemporary.

At first glance Amir (Hazem Shammas) seems to be in possession of the privileged American corporate high-life; a lawyer specialising in acquisitions and mergers, a white wife Emily (Libby Munro) who’s a successful artist in her own right, and a plush Manhattan upper-east two-level apartment. But like all successful unions, all is not what it seems. Although he was born in Pakistan, Amir has renounced all ties to Islam and the Islamic faith, changed his name to assimilate easier, and become a thoroughly homogenised New Yorker.

His faith is tested when his young nephew Abe (Kane Felsinger) plays the Islamic guilt-card urging him to help in the defence of an imam who has been accused of raising money to help terrorists. Amir does, and when his actions come back to bite him on the rear, his whole life, personal and public, begins to unravel. Throw in Jory (Zindzi Okenyo) a black colleague at his firm who’s also on track to become partner, and her Jewish husband Isaac (Mitchell Butel) who’s helping Emily exhibit her paintings at the Whitney Museum, you have a scenario ripe for exploitation.

The fireworks explode at a dinner party where Amir acknowledges a sense of pride at the rise of Islam despite the terror attacks that have been perpetrated in its name. It not only raises the ire of Isaac but inflames the issue.

Although he doesn’t take sides, Akhtar’s writing is by turns crisp, incisive, funny, and ultimately brutally honest. By putting a human face on the drama he makes us question our beliefs and care about the characters.

A pitch-perfect cast and astute direction by Nadia Tass help bring this intelligent and powerful play to life. Hazem Shammas portrays the conflict and hidden resentment of Amir with a magnetic charisma. A man determined not to be a victim he aggressively dominates to the point of displaying a horrific streak of violence. His eventual fall from grace is tinged with sadness and a helpless feeling of being lost. Libby Munro imbues Emily with affection and a range of passion arguing a case for Islam’s place in the world of art, whilst Mitchell Butel’s Isaac was the perfect adversary for Amir scoring political points with rapier-like accuracy. Zindzi Okenyo’s Jory had the zeal of an accomplished African-American woman who was claiming her place at the board room table and relished the zingers in the script. Kane Felsinger’s Abe came across as a misplaced youth who seemed to be a prime contender for radicalization.

Shaun Gurton’s set had all of the swank of a Manhattan elite address enhanced by Nigel Levings lighting. Despite making me feel like I was watching an episode of Homeland, Russell Goldsmith and Daniel Nixon’s sound design was punchy and edge-of-your-seat exciting. Disgraced deserved its Pulitzer Prize. It was an engrossing night in the theatre.

Peter Pinne