paper analyses

The Play “Humiliated” by Ayad Akhtar

The play “Humiliated,” written by Ayad Akhtar, is examined in this essay. On September 17, 2017, the play was presented at Lincoln Center Off-Broadway and lasted 60 minutes. The play’s themes center on social and political topics like Islamophobia and Muslim Americans’ sense of self. The drama’s events take place in a single scene that largely centers on a dinner party hosted by four persons from various social and cultural backgrounds. As the conversations between the various characters progress, differing viewpoints on politics and religion are revealed. Depending on the topic of conversation, the play’s tone varies drastically. Amir Kapoor in an American-born Muslim and his wife is an African-American. Amir has an assimilated nephew who is a Muslim and has concerns of a fellow Muslim who was facing charges of funding a terrorist group. The friends who visit include Isaac who is a Jew and his wife, who is an ex-Muslim. As a result of the diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, their talk mostly falls on the side of ethnic and racial prejudices that are witnessed in the modern American Nation since they are persistent and progressive in the various cultural circles. After the September eleven attacks in the United States, most of the Muslims were on the receiving end of religious prejudice, and the play seems to reference the terror attack with some of the characters identifying themselves with the bombing.

Performance Positives

There were a couple of performance positives that stood out in mind after watching the stage performance of the play. The plot of the drama was all-encompassing and was communicated throughout the piece, and every action encompassed all the issues affecting the characters both internally and externally. The playwright organized the events in a way that they created tension and suspension that eased the audience and kept them interested in continuing watching the play. The plot was centered towards the social, cultural and prejudice that the characters face in their respective lives. Their argument is centered around the Muslim religion profiling and their take on the issue, and they ended up having. The point of character development was well addressed in the play since the characters in the play deal amicably with the problems and conflicts they face in the plot. There was a drama that was created in the plot when some of the characters were caught in awkward positions. There was tension when the wife of Amir was found almost kissing with Isaac and their subsequent admission of their love. The characters of Isaac and Amir populated the stage, and they were compelling the audience to keep on wanting to know more about them. The theme of the play dominates the story behind the plot and the various communications done by the characters overrides the dominating the idea of segregation.

The Director’s Staging

The director of the play staged the piece efficiently, and the story and the narrative were clear. The stage directions painted a clear picture of the characters, and they were able to articulate the emotional and physical setting of the characters. Notably, from the stage directions, the audience was already aware of the dynamic relationships surrounding the characters. Also, the instructions on stage were explicit and elaborate, for example, the audience is well introduced to the religious and racial background of the characters and their relationships with each other. Therefore, there was no confusion in the audience as to what was unfolding on stage. The stage properties were well used in the scene as a result of proper guidance to the characters and the traffic on stage was well managed, and thus, there were no cases of the actors running into each other on stage. The playwright of the play was meant to be watched and not read since the stage directions helped the audience to know what the characters were about to speak and the mood and tone of their words.

The Setting and Technical Aspects

The setting of the play has the rise description element where the curtains were risen to indicate the onset of a scene. Darkness in the room was used to illustrate the change of the scene especially when the lights came up. Therefore the lighting was used to control the audience and kept them expectant of the changes on stage. The costume used by the characters illustrated their various roles in the play. The Muslims in the drama wore niqabs to demonstrate their faith. The sounds during the performance were used to create a particular atmosphere or mood in the plot, and the actors used their bodies to construct music in their performances. Also, the props that were used in the play helped to make sound effects. Notably, technology was involved in the stage performance, and the sound effects on a compact disc were used to illustrate a particular message.

Conclusion

The play “Humiliated” was a thumbs up since it was entertaining and at the same time educating. The actors had mastered well the content, and they were up to the task. The evening was great, and it was not too long neither too short. It was a time well spent and given a chance; the play is worth a second viewing.