The Los Angeles independent remounting of Rajiv Joseph‘s Guards at the Taj (the last one was in 2015 at the Geffen Playhouse) is a strikingly well done and hauntingly relevant production that also utilizes fantastic genderbent casting and an endearing post finale that credits all crew involved, a practice that is rarely ever seen in theatre.
Set centuries ago, yet piercingly relevant today, Guards at the Taj follows two low-ranking imperial guards stationed outside the Taj Mahal before its grand unveiling. An impossible task will test their lifelong friendship, shake their faith, and shatter their lives forever. This darkly funny and deeply moving play asks us: follow duty or follow beauty?
Photo by Zack Arch
Actors who put it upon themselves to produce a play always come with the enormous possibility that their ego will overshadow any critical process in successfully delivering such a difficult task, particularly when they also handle directing and producing duties as well. It either overwhelms them into incompetency or they rise up to the challenge and deliver despite all odds. Fortunately, Guards at the Taj is the latter with director Behzad Dabu (who also plays Babur) and Kausar Mohammed (who plays Humayan) also being producers to their own show and doing all their hats well. And For the first time in my years of watching theatre, the production had a cinema-like moment of showing the credits of everyone who was part of it. I found this to be absolutely endearing and also made me wonder if there was a way for EVERY theatre production to do something similar.
Despite the limitations of the black box setting in the smaller venue of the El Portal theatre, the space was fully utilized with fantastic lighting design from Claire Chrzan and Joey Guthman, video projection design by Paul Deziel, and sound design by Steve Labedz. I do wish there was a platform to raise the stage as so much of the action was with the actors below audience sight lines so a good number of the audience members had to perch up or move to the sides to see.
But for a play to just have two actors, you need talent who can command the stage and entertain the audiences for such an extended period of time. Thankfully, Behzad Dabu and Kausar Mohammed deliver on all accounts with the challenges of making the trivial Waiting for Godot/Rosencratz & Guildenstern are Dead moments highly amusing and the dramatic ones full of passion and pathos. In all previous productions of the play, the two guard characters of Babur and Humayan have always been played by men but for this independent remount, the character of Humayan is played by a woman (Kausar Mohammed) that is portrayed in such a way that it doesn’t outright ignore that a woman is an imperial guard but it also doesn’t make a tremendous deal of it either. These two actors have such a fantastic rapport with each other as their tremendous comedic timing and dramatic core strength carry the show. My ONLY technical concern for the actors is for Kausar Mohammed as her vocal projections became so strained halfway through the performance that I feel that there could be even more that could come out.
The most interesting and perhaps puzzling element of the play is that the entire conflict hinges on the urban myth premise that the emperor who commissioned the Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan, ordered the hands of 20,000 men who constructed the building to be chopped off. While this barbarous demand is the root of the “I was just following orders” existential conflict that engulfs both characters through most of the play, it is to be noted that our country’s media literacy is not at all competent and most audience members, especially them being white (as it tends to be with theatre), will walk away thinking that this is what actually happened. Thankfully, there is a talkback after every show where the two cast members will explain that this was actually a western myth that first appeared in the 1960s and unfortunately perpetuated by some Desis in 2021. That being said, the play still utilizes that urban myth to create the conflict so it still didn’t quite sit well with me that the playwright doesn’t address the controversy of this myth without other folks needing to do a talkback for it (if they decide to do one).
There is no doubt that characters dealing with tyranny and the decision to either comply or defy will be a popular choice for many theatrical productions going forth this year in this country (and unfortunately the next few years or potentially more) while this freedom is still afforded to us. But if we are to tackle on oppression with the arts, whether coming from within our communities or outside, it must be done by taking a hard look at who is truly oppressing us and not an imaginary “what if this myth was actually true?” scenario without actually investigating it. That would be my one and only major fault with Rajiv Joseph’s writing as it relies too heavily on such a dangerous Islamophobic myth when the western world is barely able to comprehend the actual truth from Black and Brown folks. By having a Desi playwright also utilize this myth, I am concerned that white people and white affirming people will take that at face value without much critical thought. During the opening night, many of the global majority audience members audibly gasped that the myth actually wasn’t true (thank goodness once again there was a talkback but a play should not be dependent on this). But I guess I shouldn’t be shocked as so much of the western world believed or still believes the myth of the 40 beheaded babies just over two years ago.
That all being said, this production was tremendously entertaining and thought-provoking to watch. It is not often than an actor-mounted theatre production goes well but for this one to succeed on so many levels is an accomplishment that must absolutely be noted and celebrated. Guards at the Taj will be performing at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood till February 22. You can buy tickets here.