Theatre Review: TERROR - a play by Raminder Kaur, directed by Mukul Ahmed
A Moment of Reckoning – Your Life or your Friends’?
reviewed by Avani Devi

Based on real-life events of the attack on the Holey Artisan
Bakery in Bangladesh’s capital, Terror was a dramatic yet intimate,
striking yet stifling theatre play for its emotional impact. The event in July
2016 shocked the nation and beyond, not least because it was in Dhaka’s most
elite and international district, and led by perpetrators from similar
backgrounds. While the insurgents held customers and staff captive, the play
held the audience captive. Produced by Sohaya Visions and Mukul and Ghetto
Tigers in Pinter Studio, it was a drama that deeply impressed me when I went to
see it on Friday November 8th in East London.
The five actors played a number of
roles with conviction, swiftly switching between terrorist and victim as if to
say that there’s a fine line between the two. The infectious humour through the
friendship of the young man, Faraaz Ayaz Hossian (Diljohn Singh), out with his
two friends during the month of Ramadan was refreshing. One was an Indian
Hindu, Tarishi (Subhaluxmi Mukherji), the other an American Muslim, Abinta
(Shivani Sethia). This was contrasted with the obsessive and often psychotic
humour of the men that stormed the café while the friends were having a reunion.
In the Q&A session, writer Raminder
Kaur talked about how she had researched news reports to find out as much about
the people involved in the incident as she could. But there was not much on
their characters apart from commentary on Faraaz’ bravery and the
radicalisation of the attackers. As a Bangladeshi Muslim, Faraaz was given the
chance to leave the café but he chose to stay, to be with his friends. This incident
remained central to the play. The rest was imagined with a tenacious grip on
real-life incidents.
Terror was not just an eye-opening
performance but also a fully engaging experience. Famed for his work on Basement
Jaxx’ Where’s your Head at? and George Michael’s track, Monkey, among various film and TV
credits, Roddy Matthews musical compositions blended seductively with Erica
Greenshields’ evocative set design. The scenes were mainly based in the café
that switched to a hot storage room with flower bags and yeast where workers
were hiding on the first floor, unable to leave as the insurgents had unwittingly
locked them in.
The struggle to breathe led the three
men to get possessive even over the oxygen. They suffered, prayed, slept and suffocated
to the point that Mohammad pleaded with the ghost of his deceased mother to
take him with her. ‘Don’t be so cruel!’ he pleaded when she responded ‘It’s not
your time’. This was exquisitely conveyed by a director’s sleight of hand by
Mukul Ahmed – when the actors lovingly glide towards each other but ultimately
miss the mark.
The Mother moved between rooms, effortlessly
and ethereally coming to her two sons (both played by Rez Kabir). Her younger
son, Miraj, was tied to IED explosives as a human shield downstairs. The irony
was that he was supposed to be the timid brother but he wanted to live, while
his older brother locked in the storage room caved in to the desire to die.
This death wish radically contrasted
with the lead insurgent, Don, played by Dave Kukadia. He wanted to die to seek
justice, and a more peaceful world where there is no torture of soul, of
people, of Muslims as happens in Palestine and Guantanamo Bay. But his sense of
justice was not the one that Faraaz believed in and they clashed
over the Koran, Faraaz accusing Don of interpreting it ‘wrongly’ and
‘perversely’, and imploring him to release not just him, but everyone.
Lighting by Paul Micah added to the heightened
tensions of the hostage situation with occasional use of torchlights. The
terror hit a peak when Don turned to the audience shouting commands, asking
uncomfortable questions, and putting the spotlight on us as if we were next.
The ambiguous ending that had a touch
of magic realism left me thinking and guessing. People’s experiences in the
Bakery were tragic – about 30 Bangladeshis, Japanese, Italians, Indians and
Americans lost their lives. The fact that one second you could be out chatting,
teasing each other, imagining and planning future lives, and then in the blink
of an eye, guns are whipped out so as you’re forced to crawl like mice under
the tables was a little to close to the bone. This was a modern horror
experience comparable to The Women in
Black.
On the main themes, there was a good
balance of views and interpretations but in the end it was courage and
friendship that stood out. The play came with the launch of a new award to develop
a new script with the two companies. Fittingly called Rise Against Fanaticism Through
the Arts (#RAFTA) in Faraaz’ memory, the award with a £1,000 development prize encourages
others to write original and imaginative scripts that tackle fanaticism,
extremism and xenophobia across the board https://www.sohayavisions.com/our-story. At a time where right
wing populism and radicalisation is on the rise across the board – whether it
be Islamic, white nationalist, or other religious and ethnic extremisms - there
is no better time to encourage others to rise too.

The Mother moved between rooms, effortlessly
and ethereally coming to her two sons (both played by Rez Kabir). Her younger
son, Miraj, was tied to IED explosives as a human shield downstairs. The irony
was that he was supposed to be the timid brother but he wanted to live, while
his older brother locked in the storage room caved in to the desire to die.

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