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Sikh riot theatre stages play about Muslim brothels
A theatre which was forced to axe a play after a riot by Sikhs is to risk controversy again by staging a new drama about Muslim brothels. The new play, Bells, by a young Anglo-Pakistani playwright, Yasmin Whittaker Khan, will expose the secret world of the "mujra", or courtesan house. It shows how Muslim girls find themselves trapped, and exposes the hypocrisy of the otherwise religious men who visit them. The play, featuring "non-graphic" sexual scenes, is set in a fictional British "mujra" and opens at the Birmingham Rep Theatre on Wednesday.The same theatre became a battleground shortly before Christmas. For several nights, angry Sikhs protested against the play Behzti - Punjabi for "dishonour" - a black comedy depicting rape and murder in a Sikh temple. Sikhs said the play was grossly insulting to their faith. The demonstrators eventually stormed the Birmingham Rep, throwing missiles and breaking windows. Behzti was cancelled and its female playwright, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, went into hiding after receiving death threats. Whittaker Khan told The Telegraph yesterday that there was no comparison between portraying sexual abuse and murder in a holy place and showing the low life of a brothel. Whittaker Khan said: "Is it safe to put it on? Yes, I hope that it will be safe. The theatre has thought about it and they do think it is safe. The play is provocative. I don't mind if there are peaceful protests although I can't see why there should be." Whittaker Khan, born a Muslim to Pakistani parents and then adopted by an English family, has no strong faith. She says the Pakistan film industry has glamorised mujras as harmless. She says mujras now operating in Britain and in Pakistan are brothels. Girls sing and dance and then money is thrown at them on stage to buy their favours. She says she knows of at least four mujra clubs in this country and has made several visits to them for research. She wants to expose the misery that goes on within them. "In Pakistan, sometimes girls are kidnapped, or they have arrived there after divorce or misfortune, or they can be born into the club," Whittaker Khan said. The girls might pray five times a day, but in between they are bought like chattels, she added. Birmingham Rep declined to talk about the production yesterday, but in a brief statement said its policy for the past six years had been to encourage a new generation of playwrights. The play is to go on a national tour after being staged in Birmingham. Posted by: Bulldog 2005-03-21 |
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