Time for some disrespect

By Daniel Nelson The morning after I saw The Black Album a BBC World Service report told of a number of young Somali men brought up in the US who had been persuaded to return to the land of their origin as Islamist fighters: at least one of them had died there as a suicide bomber. So British writer Hanif Kureishi’s dramatisation of his 1995 novel is still relevant. Set at the time of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, the central character is a Prince-loving British Asian excited and nervous about university life, attracted both by the freedoms around him – particularly the attentions of one of his tutors – and by the commitment of a group of young Muslim activists. Kureishi recalls that as the 20th anniversary of the fatwa approached he thought that his novel might shed light on subsequent events – “it wasn’t as though the subject of liberalism and its relation to extreme religion had gone away”. He’s right, but the subsequent two decades have also produced a lot more thinking, analysis and information, and although Kureishi’s original tale remains valid, and vivid, it’s optimistic to think that leafing through the Album again will uncover forgotten truths. It’s still fun because Kureishi has so much talent. His writing is “profane, rude, blasphemous and direct”, in actor Jonathan Bonnici’s words, and “mischievous”, according to director Jatinder Verma. And as Kureishi himself observes: “There are times when we can be too respectful to one another and that can be dangerous.” All good reasons to see and enjoy. Unfortunately, the pace of the play turns the characters into caricatures, sometimes ludicrously so, stripping away many of their subtleties and interior lives. It’s like a witty, pacey cartoon. The issues around liberalism and fundamentalism are still current, as the London 7/7 bombings showed, and that alone puts it streets ahead of most current West End productions. But rehashing is not enough. Now, a play about a refugee who escapes the violence in her homeland with her son, brings him up in a Western country and then learns he has secretly returned to the land of his origin and blown himself up… * The Black Album runs at the Cottesloe, The National Theatre (South Bank, London SE1 9PX; box office 020 7452 3000) on 31 July, 1, 07, 08, 10 August, and then goes on tour. Tour details.

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