Dirty Paki Lingerie
nytheatre.com review by Ed Malin
July 19, 2012
If you are a smart, beautiful woman with tradition-minded immigrant parents, you probably know what Aizzah Fatima is talking about. If not, do try to catch her show Dirty Paki Lingerie in its brief New York engagement before it heads to the big Edinburgh Fringe.
What do the half-dozen or so Pakistani personas in this funny one-woman show have in common? They are either young American women who have done everything right (respect the parents, get the professional degree) and can't get a man, or women who are arranged to marry a man but probably won't be able to pursue their career goals, or the parents who are trying desperately to get their daughters married. It seems that, in addition to making life warm and hopeful, tradition can also be frustrating and exhausting. Weaving in and out of various accents, and with only a radiant green shawl for a costume change, Fatima takes us through a day in the life of some real characters.
For example, there's Mrs. Khan, who is reading an Urdu newspaper and calling each man who has posted a matrimonial ad. She starts with great expectations for her daughter, who is a bit beyond the marriageable age. As she appears between other scenes, her voice is progressively more hoarse and she is less likely to dismiss a young taxi driver as a contender for son-in-law. There are no takers, until Mrs. Khan decides her daughter can be a few years younger. We also meet a young woman who wants to express her love through lingerie, and feels guilty about it.
Two scenes are tied for most touching. In the first, a mother who is leaving her husband late in life urges her daughter not to marry someone who wouldn't let her go to law school. In the second scene, a 30-something professional woman on a business trip makes eyes at a cute Pakistani man in the airport. Without actually meeting yet, they start to text and instant message each other on the flight. He knows sections of To Kill A Mockingbird by heart, and she would love to name her child Scout. Finally, he wants to meet her. At their destination, or back in New York, she asks? He suggests the First Class cabin bathroom. It's really sad how these men see an intelligent and worldly woman as too intelligent and too old to be a life partner.
I think this show brings home how life in the West and modern technology have certainly not killed traditional lifestyles. You may be wrestling with your own culture as we speak. Fatima is a gifted performer who is refreshingly assertive and challenges stereotypes. Under Erica Gould's direction, she shows us the great happiness, or at least the pursuit of happiness available in America. Maybe we should just be happy with either marriage or a career; what could we be thinking? I am glad that a show like this will be on at least two continents this year.
