Review: Riveting DISGRACED at Mark Taper Forum

Disgraced/by Ayad Akhtar/directed by Kimberly Senior/Mark Taper Forum/through July 17

Playwright Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer-Prize winning Disgraced is at the core a portrait of an American born Muslim Amir Kapoor (Hari Dhillon) and a treatise on Islamophobia, but it is first and foremost an entertainment, and as such, its big ideas take less priority. In structure and excitement somewhat like Donald Margulies' Dinner with Friends and Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage, the play is humorous on the surface, but underneath... like a time-bomb set to explode. It consistently builds and builds to an unexpected climax. Now onstage at the Mark Taper Forum through July 17, Disgraced is a real audience-grabber with a dynamite cast under the superb direction of Kimberly Senior.

It is 2011-2012 in a classy upper East Side apartment in New York City. Kapoor is an acquisitions attorney who would rather deny his heritage than speak of it. His white girlfriend Emily (Emily Swallow) is an artist very much into the Islamic culture. She is trying deperately to get Amir to make more of a commitment to it. One of the old Muslims has been in jail and charged with terrorism. Emily and Amir's nephew Abe (Behzad Dabu), who is aggressively open about his heritage and anti-American in his politics, both push Amir against his will to participate in the old man's hearing if only to lend support. But, because of this, Amir is mentioned in a NY Times article, questioned at work about his political affiliations and loses a well-earned promotion/partnership at the law firm to Jory (Karen Pittman), a black lady, who has served far less time at the firm than he. Jory happens to be married to Isaac (J Anthony Crane), a curator at the Whitney museum. He is sponsoring Emily's participation in an important upcoming exhibition of paintings.

When the four, Amir, Emily, Isaac and Jory sit down to dinner, Amir is unaware of Jory's promotion and one huge infidelity... that Emily had a brief affair in London with Isaac. It seems that Isaac is in love with Emily, makes advances when Jory and Amir are out of the room, but Jory catches them kissing when she returns. The adultery is a shock to her as well. What results is an out and out brawl where Amir throws Isaac and Jory out and proceeds to beat up Emily.

The amazing element of this scene if we back up a bit is that in the beginning everyone is enjoying him or herself, joking about food and cooking, books and traveling, as the four have been close for some time. Little racial slurs that come up about Muslims and Jews are laughed off almost as jokes. No one is embittered toward anyone until... It is to Akhtar's credit that he keeps the writing fluid. It's a real dinner party where comments surface but we don't take them quite so seriously until later.

The acting ensemble under director Kimberly Senior's sturdy hand are terrific. Dhillon is amazing as the complex Amir, compelling and almost vicious when his true feelings about his culture start to emerge, especially regarding the treatment of Islamic women and his feelings toward defeating other races. He is unwillingly trapped in a religion that pulls him back. He tries to ignore it, but it refuses to give him peace. Dhillon's range of emotions is remarkable in a tour.de.force performance! Equally wonderful is Swallow, an artist caught up in the culture, who is consistently supportive of Amir's loyalty to his family, right to the end. Pittman is totally real as Jory, another complex character, who hides her secret well yet is truthfully blown over by the shocking news that awaits her. When Amir refers to both himself and Jory as 'niggers' it is a rather chilling, unexpected moment for all to hear. Crane is appropriately deceitful as Isaac and Dabu steals his moments as Abe in the last scene where he clearly defines his negation of the way his race has been abused and disgraced in this country. The Muslim culture is at the core, yet we are presented universally with two white people, a black woman and a Muslim all sharing duplicitous issues that could really be a part of any group of friends of any culture. And this is the beauty of Akhtar's writing: he pulls us in, holds on and then blows us away.

Don't miss Disgraced at the Taper through July 17 only! It is an enjoyably enriching evening of theatre.

www.centertheatregroup.org

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