Baghdad Wedding
Baghdad Wedding, Belvoir St Theatre; 7 February-22 March, phone: 02 9699 3444 or www.belvoir.com.au
Because his dad is STC grand fromage Rob Brookman and his mother is the playwright Verity Laughton, and Sydney being Sydney, many would suspect that Geordie Brookman could so easily have taken a primrose-strewn path to where he wanted to go as a director. Instead he’s been beavering away for some years now, odd-jobbing, slogging, learning his craft and paying his dues. You see him in theatres – watching, absorbing, learning – and his name in modest credits, and as “assistant” to one luminary or another. Finally, he’s emerged into the light with a major production and bingo! He arrives – apparently an overnight sensation if you haven‘t been paying attention – as a sparkling, mature and assured talent.
The play chosen for this auspicious mainstage debut isn’t an easy one either. Written by London-domiciled Iraqi emigre Hassan Abdulrazzak, Baghdad Wedding was a (qualified) success when it was first staged at the Soho Theatre in 2007. While most critics applauded the new voice and new light he shone on contemporary Iraq, the more honest also noted the play had a few flaws and clunky bits.
Brookman’s production minimizes these and, for the most part it is seamless, fast-paced and deliciously well staged. Baghdad Wedding is both funny and shocking and its hour and 40 minutes (no interval) rips along like a Hummer on a dangerous highway – but avoiding the craters and other traps which might otherwise ensnare the unwary or incompetent.
The play is a potent and entertaining mixture – war story, love story, horror story – and (for many of us, I suspect) reveals a vivid and hitherto unseen picture of the daily life, politics and (in)humanity of 21st century Iraq. Despite an apparently straightforward narrative style, the story is actually told in a theatrical way (the central character is already dead when the play begins) and it draws you in and doesn’t let go.
In short, Salim has returned to Baghdad for his wedding. He’s a bit of a star – a doctor with a degree from a British university who’s just published a scandalous and now notorious first novel. He’s charming and charismatic: men and women alike are drawn to him and, with an easy grace and playful style, he doesn’t resist. One of the truisms about theatre is that getting the casting right is more than half the battle, so casting Ben Winspear as Salim is a masterstroke. He inhabits the louche but sweet skin of the modern anti-hero with an alluring totality. It’s a performance that goes way beyond the lazy labeling of Salim as bisexual. He’s much more than that – polymorphous perverse, perhaps. He is adored and graciously accepts all offers rather than hurt anyone’s feelings!
The play’s narrator and anchor is Salim’s old and loyal friend Marwan, and as played by Yalin Ozucelik, he is the perfect foil for Winspear’s sleepy-eyed seductiveness. Ozucelik is an actor rarely seen in Sydney (The Lost Echo for example) and he’s an award-winner in Brisbane and elsewhere. He was in the world premiere season of Andrew Bovell’s Adelaide Festival hit When The Rain Stops Falling in 2008 and will be in it at STC later this year. He’s a wonderful actor and in Baghdad Wedding he gives an intelligent, heartfelt and subtle performance as he watches with amused and wide-eyed amazement as Salim’s notoriety ripples through their Baghdad milieu. But then his face reveals bewilderment and pain as the two men become unwitting rivals for the affections of the gorgeous Luma (Melanie Vallejo).
Luma is an educated Iraqi woman – a London-trained doctor and, like Salim, could have made a good and safe life somewhere far from the perils of Baghdad. Instead she has chosen to come back to play her part in whatever Iraq now is (hellhole? shambles? reconstruction? home? a bit of all of these?). Through her eyes and mind a guided tour of what it’s like to be 21st century modern Iraqi woman is revealed, without a hint of didacticism or PC.
The rest of the cast – Arky Michael, Tahki Saul, Osamah Sami, Julia Billington, Robert Mammone and Tim Walter – are as strong as these three and the result is a richly rewarding entertainment. Baghdad Wedding is sexy, tragic, funny and shocking. The shocks aren’t necessarily the predictable ones and the result is an exhilarating if tear-provoking rollercoaster ride that doesn’t let up for a minute.
