A Thousand Splendid Suns, Birmingham REP - review with pictures
At a very early point in Ursula Rani Sarma’s adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s novel, one character declares that the Taliban have declared War - on women.
Make no mistake, the novel is a forensic examination into the ways in which the Taliban, a politically and religious extremist faction turned Afghanistan into a repressive and misogynistic society after the Russians withdrew in 1996.
The horror and bleak outlook for Afghan women is unrelenting in the novel, but seems to have less impact in the stage version. Rules were rigidly enforced. If women were caught alone on the street they could be beaten and sent home. If they went out they must be accompanied by a male relative. They could not show their faces. They must stay inside at all times. Cosmetics were forbidden. Jewellery was forbidden. They could not speak unless spoken to. They should have no eye-contact with men. They must not laugh in public. If they painted their nails they will lose a finger. They were forbidden to attend school. They were forbidden from work. If they were found guilty of adultery they would be stoned to death.
From a country which had been enjoying relative economic prosperity before the Taliban took over Afghanistan soon found that 93 per cent of women were illiterate and that 87 per cent had suffered from violent abuse.
The plot is simple. Teen Laila loses her family amidst the shelling and bombing But she is offered marriage by Rasheed, a neighbour, to be his second wife. Initially, this looked like a good idea before the dreadful reality, that Rasheed was a world-class misogynist, set in.
Over the following years Mariam and Laila, although beginning their relationship with a degree of resentment and mistrust do come to rely on each other for emotional and physical support.
Sujaya Dasgupta, as Laila, shows abundant optimism and a much more positive outlook for the future. Shala Nyx and Amina Zia share the role of Mariam and both deliver a fatalistic response to the hand which Fate has dealt.
Pal Aron tries to bring a little humanity to the part of Rasheed. This doesn’t seem to work exactly as required for there are times when the lines delivered have a degree of humour about them. He does get his just rewards when Mariam rearranges his head with a shovel.
I’m not quite certain that the cheer which followed reflected the audience’s dislike for Rasheed as a character or welcomed the fact that the long-suffering Mariam had at long last stood up for her rights. Given the brutality and extremist nature of the Taliban regime it wasn’t totally explicit that the creative team, headed by Roxana Silbert, had captured the cruel and repressed lives lived by the women of Afghanistan.
Yet there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head in Pakistan because she wanted to go to school. She was transferred to the QE hospital in Birmingham, where she recovered from the injury. She then went to Edgbaston High School for girls and is now taking a degree at Oxford.
She has spoken to many government organisations around the world and became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace prize in 2014. Perhaps just the slightest of indications that the role of women may be changing in countries where totalitarian and repressive attitudes were once the norm.
A Thousand Splendid Suns shines at the REP until 18th May.
