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Regional Reviews: Washington, D.C. Love in Afghanistan Also see Susan's reviews of Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill and Romeo and Juliet
The central relationship is between Duke (Khris Davis), a U.S. hip-hop star performing for the troops at Bagram Air Force Base in Kabul, and Roya (Melis Aker), his translator. The two are attracted to each other, but they have certain cultural land mines they have to navigate, specifically Duke's desire to see the country beyond the confines of the military base and Roya's role as an educated woman in a country long dominated by a faction that opposed education for women. On the other hand, they find surprising similarities in some of their attitudes. Randolph-Wright uses the theme of "passing" as a constant among the characters. Duke isn't a tough inner-city rapper; his father is a Washington lawyer and his urbane mother (Dawn Ursula) is a Jamaican-English official with the World Bank. When Roya was a child, her father Sayeed (Joseph Kamal) skirted Taliban restrictions against schooling for girls by following an old Afghan custom, dressing her as a boy (and giving her a boy's name) until she reached puberty. The play shows that circumstances may force anyone to assume a different identity for the moment, especially when individuals have as little control over their lives as chess pieces. The playwright also touches on topics that might not occur to the average theatergoer, such as what will happen to Afghans employed by the U.S. armed forces after the troops leave next year, and the question of what causes a person to become radicalized to the point of setting off a bomb. While all this may sound grim, the play does include a healthy amount of humor. Director Lucie Tiberghien brings clarity to what could seem confusing, eliciting genuine and warm performances from her cast: Aker, confident as a woman who has had to grow up fast; Davis, likably boyish with unexpected depths; Kamal, both philosophical and pragmatic; and especially the charismatic Ursula. Daniel Conway's minimalist set creates a succession of settings from a few chairs, a hanging lamp, an Afghan rug, and an expansive rear projection wall (lighting design by Mark Lanks). Arena Stage
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