Sexism meets racism

No easy answers in Rahul Varma's play Counter Offence

by AMY BARRATT

Counter Offence, which opened last night at the Monument-National, sounds like the quintessential Montreal play--it's about domestic violence, racism, police brutality and the clash of cultures. Oddly enough, playwright Rahul Varma says the idea was triggered by incidents in Toronto and Vancouver, which I suspect means that Varma has tapped into some pretty universal themes.

And Counter Offence has turned out to be a very "Montreal" play, in the sense that it is set in this city, and because so many local people and organizations have had a hand in bringing it to the stage. The play was workshopped at Playwrights' Workshop Montreal, is being co-produced by Teesri Duniya and Black Theatre Workshop and is also benefiting from some of the resources of Repercussion Theatre.

Varma's play is the story of a young Iranian immigrant, Shapoor, who is arrested for beating his wife Shazia. Moolchand, an anti-racism activist, takes up Shapoor's cause, claiming that white police officers treated him unfairly because of his ethnic origin. All this creates, according to the press release, "an explosive situation where [a] crime against a woman is turned into a crime against race."

"Whenever race and gender are juxtaposed," says playwright Rahul Varma, "it tends to raise emotional reactions." Without denying that members of cultural communities have reason to be wary of the police, Varma says that "in situations of conjugal violence, gender becomes more important than race to me."

Varma remembers reading about a case in Toronto involving a couple who were both black, in which "a police officer didn't save the woman because he was afraid of being accused of racism."

In situations like that and the one in his play, in which both husband and wife are members of a minority group, Varma considers that someone who fails to protect the woman is guilty of "double racism: against her colour and against her gender."

Counter Offence is all about the abuse of power, and virtually no character walks away clean.

"The thing I like about this play," says director Jack Langedijk, "is that it's very grey. We all prefer black and white. We want to see answers. It's frustrating to have to think about art."

At the same time, what drew him to Varma's work was its social relevance. "I thought it tapped into a very real emotional climate. Rahul's drama speaks of what's going on right now, here."

Varma is a founding member of Teesri Duniya, a company that aims to present theatre with a multicultural perspective and to foster an artistic community that accurately represents the makeup of the country.

This production, which features the same director and most of the same cast as the original, is co-produced by Black Theatre Workshop, meaning it has access to more resources--both human and financial--as well as to BTW's established audience base.

The collaboration makes perfect sense, says BTW artistic director Nancy Delva, because "both companies have the same views in terms of their vision of theatre in Montreal, and the same aim of bringing forth issues that non-white communities are facing."

The play's first incarnation stirred up quite a bit of controversy. Some members of the Iranian community, already sensitive about negative portrayals in the media, felt the playwright was picking on them.

Varma insists he is not making accusations against any particular community. Making the husband Iranian is an artistic rather than political choice. Langedijk adds that Shapoor is a fairly sympathetic character in the play.

"He actually grows in the course of the play. It's not like, 'Oh, all his problems are solved' at the end, but the character wants to change. The play addresses all the violence, from the police to [Shazia's] mother and father. Ironically, the guy who's the abuser gets hit more than anyone in the play." Given the sensitive issues in the play, and the multiracial makeup of the cast, I asked director Langedijk if there had been any friction within the company during the rehearsal period.

"It's funny, you know," Langedijk says. "The material is not light, but it's been such a wonderful process. We've all enjoyed it so much. I think because it's always been done, not with a bunch of angry voices, but with love."

to Oct. 5, Théâtre du Maurier of the Monument-National