Playman: Off Broadway/Aizzah Fatima’s Dirty Paki Lingerie at Manhattan Theatre Fest

Playman “Dirty Paki Lingerie”

Written and Performed by Aizzah Fatimah

Developed and Directed Erica Gould

at Manhattan Theatre Festival, July 28, 2011

Two 30 year old chic internationals who work in NYC at the United Nations have just seen “Dirty Paki Lingerie” at the Manhattan Theatre Festival. Gunther is from Austria and works as a translator at the Spanish Embassy and Jill, Pakistani-American, a curator of art exhibited at the UN.

Jill: In her one act play “Dirty Paki Lingerie” Aizzah Fatimi creates a poetic bridge between life in rural Pakistan and life as a Pakistani-American and in that itself at its base the play is a powerful 60 minutes of theatre.

Gunther: Writer/Actress Fatima plays 6 characters…all either Pakistani women dreaming of coming to America or already Pakistani-American.

Jill: She dexterously goes between various characters and in doing so creates an environment of passion for religion and humanity and modernity all at the same time.

Gunther: Some people watching the show will wonder…Is Islam, at its core, more antiquated then other religions and less jibing with the modern world?

Jill: I don’t think the play is arguing that but there are clearly antiquated pockets of culture in Pakistani life, and archaic ways on interpreting religion everywhere. The play succinctly shows a modern world juxtaposed to traditional values, which seems to be a corner-stone of Pakistani American life, and Dirty Paki Lingerie, with a keen ear, and some arching wisdom, vividly goes into that.

Gunther: The show puts a great deal of emphasis on relationships and marriage.

Jill: It does that most vividly through the character of Asama a Pakistani mother, brilliantly played, who is constantly on the phone trying to marry off her daughter by responding to classified ads offering to marry off Pakistani American men. She does this over and over again. Asama is very funny.

Gunther: A great moment is when as Ammera, a 20 year old visitor to America, is texting a boy she like son a plane…Ammera’s reactions to her own texts as she sends them really make great comedy and are very very well played.

Jill: Dirty Paki lingerie sits on the cusp of the modern Muslim world…it is a play on the desire to worship and honor religion and deeply celebrate humanity and modernity at the same time. A very real and very powerful theatrical experience…Go see it.

–Playman, Aug 1, 2011

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