Not every musical play leaves you with the theme song stuck
in your head and the urge to dance all the way home and if I was just a tad
less self-conscious that would have been me.
ISHQ is London’s
first ever Anglo Punjabi Sufi musical and in the 70th anniversary of
independence, celebrates the enduring qualities of the Sufi religion:
compassion, harmony and peaceful coexistence. It’s an irresistible cocktail of
classical and modern dance with a blend of poetry and fusion music that works
on both heart and head.
The story of Heer Ranjha was written in 1766 by Sufi saint
and poet Waris Shah and possibly based on actual characters from the Lodi dynasty
in the Fifteeth Century. Shah’s poem works on a number of levels: love story as
well as spiritual journey… enforced separation and reunion. Ishq is the
greatest of all passionate loves and is the love of the Creator, absolute and
pure.
Producer Huna Beg and director, Dr Farooq Beg, were also
drawn to the story’s lessons about gender and free speech: choices enshrined in
Sharia as rights according to women. It might surprise some that this
eighteenth century text places such importance on the heroine’s consent in
marriage but you shouldn’t always read a book by the Daily Mail cover…
As Heer says: “… let
me stand on my own and I will no longer be a burden… but men like you will
never do that… you fear that you will lose the power to manipulate, to control…
to blame.” Even allowing for the modern translation, that’s one
independent, intelligent woman.
Sadler’s Wells was packed to the rafters for the opening
show in this short run and hopefully there will be more to come. There’s a
dazzling mix of dance, singing and music to accompany the dance with my
favourite being the two-ended drummer who had the audience trying to keep up
clapping: it’s a very stirring sound.
But you can’t fail to be moved by such a joyous celebration
of a culture that has contributed so much to this country as well as beyond. For
many in the audience the story may have been familiar and there was a ripple
when certain set-pieces unfolded but the narrative was well-presented and the
script from Mushfiq Murshed made light work of the heritage.
I must also mention the set design from Declan Randall which
cleverly projected different backgrounds onto a variable array of net curtains.
This enabled quick changes of “scene” and looked quite stunning.
In truth, the list of contributors is too long to name check
but I must also commend music advisor and flautist, Kansia Pritchard, who’s
plaintive lines were so important in conveying the soulful emotional heart of
Heer’s lover Ranjha.
  |
| Ahsan Khan and Rasheda Ali |
As the play opens, we find Ranjha (Ahsan Khan) in pieces,
mourning lost love and about to be thrown out of a mosque by three
short-tempered and faint-hearted worshipers. A white-bearded Sufi (Irfan
Damani) stops them and begins to explain why Ranjha is the way he is.
We quickly learn that Ranjha was once the shining light of
his family, popular with almost everyone except his jealous brothers. In
fairness the flute-playing dandy may well have brought this on himself but he
is disturbing the peace and gets exiled for his unrelenting insistence that the
flute is the key to cattle herding.
Ranjha meets his match when he encounters the lovely Heer
(Rasheda Ali); after she lets him use her boat to cross a river, he’ll toot his
flute for no one else but there’ s problem of Montague and Capulet proportions…
he’s not worthy and her family force her into marrying at the right station but
this is one occasion when “yes” doesn’t even come into it.
 |
| Adnan Jaffar |
“Marriage is just a contract…” says one character and the
love between Heer and Ranjha can not be overruled by legalities but torments
follow as both have to learn to follow their hearts no matter what the cost.
The leads were both superb with a special mention for Rasheda
Ali’s stage-strong singing. There’s also a grand turn from Adnan Jaffar as her
villainous uncle Kaido who clearly relishes being the bad guy but who still
manages to convey something close to likeability.
That’s key to the whole enterprise which is as good-humoured
as any tragedy has the right to be.
It is a production of one of Pakistan’s leading theatre
companies, Serendip, who have built a reputation as innovators through their
choice of plays covering diverse modern subjects from sexual politics to drug
abuse and HIV.
ISHQ’s women are independently minded and its world turns on
understanding and the willingness to learn lessons. A musical for our times.
Further details of the play can be found on the ISHQ and Serendipwebsite, wouldn’t it be great to see this in the West End?
Ithankyou Rating: ****
All photographs courtesy of Lidia Crisafulli
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