★★★★✰
On an average night, Meera (Alicia Fernandes) stays at home while her husband, Zain (Yusuf Naya), goes to the pub. But the match is charged before kickoff. Amid the protests in Iran, Meera finds herself deeply moved when the Iranian team refrains from singing the national anthem in Qatar. The next day, she removes the hijab that she wore for ten years. This is the event that opens the newly-founded Nalini Theatre Company’s Woman. Life. Freedom.
This play is not only in support of the protests taking place in the streets of Tehran and Shiraz; it brings its own protest to our front door in Britain. An Iranian Protester (Lillie Pugh) authoritatively states the origin of the protests in Iran and where they are going now. Pugh informs the audience that the “morality police” has recently been reinstated to enforce the mandatory hijab. She spends the rest of the play sat in the corner writing on a placard the resistance’s chant “Woman. Life. Freedom” in both Persian and English.
Meera’s decision to remove her hijab is subject to endless critique. Her students ask her if removing her hijab makes her a kafir (a non-believer of Islam). The headmaster (Adi Roy Bhattacharya) worries whether she is still a positive role model for students in a school that is 60% Muslim. Anxieties around optics and how a predominantly Muslim school’s outward appearance override Meera’s own decision. Students, staff, and her own family do not accept her decision for what it is: her decision.
It is refreshing to see the hijab (or lack thereof) treated with balance and depth. In mainstream culture, decisions around the hijab often precede invasive questions or demand for explanations. Meera discerns who should know the reason why she has removed her hijab. While the play focuses on Meera, it reveals the intricacies that leads to a woman’s ultimate decision. It begs the question as to whether such a decision can ever be independent of patriarchy and racism. No character is one-dimensional, even those who antagonise Meera the most have a context that allows us to understand and even sympathise with their perspective.
It is no wonder that the only person to whom Meera can fully express her relationship with the hijab is her sister, Safiya (Bushra Baig). Conversations with her father (Simon Pugh) and her husband tend to fall short due to their own expectations of who she should be to them. Ultimately, what shines through is Meera’s agency to choose how she presents her belief in Islam, not what other people think about her. Fernandes and Baig particularly shine in their roles here, their comedic timing and sisterly rapport results in a heartfelt but powerful performance.
Woman. Life. Freedom is exactly what theatre is about. It opens our eyes to the point of view that we do not get to see elsewhere. It challenges our assumptions about things that we barely questioned before. With humour and tact but equal authority, Nalini Theatre Company should be proud of what they have achieved. This is an important play at the forefront of the Camden Fringe.
Woman. Life. Freedom will be performed at Theatro Technis on 12 August at 9pm as part of Camden Fringe.
Words by Elizabeth Sorrell
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