Theater Review: Hatef**k Ask If Prosperity Is Worth Prejudice

How can I work with your fear of me to get better for me? This is the question every underprivileged person will ask, especially people of color. From a young age, we are taught double consciousness; having to be aware of white comfort and privilege as much as our personal discomfort and under-privilege. Yet, every individual has dreams and ambitions of their own that go beyond communal and cultural definition. Written by Rehana Lew Mirza, Hatef**k crackles and sizzles with passioned arguments over a sincere question: do POC’s have to sell out to earn big? 

Dignity and integrity are wonderful things to have, but they do not put food in your mouth or clothes over your body. For example, we all may admire Joan of Arc for her tenacity and FEARLESS savvy as one of the first women to helm a military, but …..she still ended up burning at the stake. Get my point! When you are seen by the powerful as a second class citizen, you will, more than likely, have your convictions challenged and placed contrast to your ability to live. In believing in yourself, you threaten your “second class” imposition which prompts the “first class” to assert their position above you. For Kavi Ladnier’s Layla Mahdi, this is unacceptable because her convictions are her life. 

To Layla, THERE HAS TO BE A WAY TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM! As a brown-skinned Muslim woman whose topical interests are the War In Syria, most do not approach her. Even when she speaks to privileged, white men writing about Syria, they only view her intelligence as sexual arousal: not as a human being talking about her own experiences. Through acclaimed writer Imran (Sendhil Ramamurthy), she hopes to bring change by using his love for her to combat hate against their community. 

Sendhil turns Imran to a beaconed example of every POC’s worst fear and greatest dream. He has money, fame, and overall material stability, but he gained it by feeding the dark stereotypes of Muslims. All of his characters are terrorists or submissive women that are even eager to be subdued by their “deadly men”. When Layla goes to meet him, she has a double motive; to give him a piece of her mind and break his heart. While she complains that Imran is hurting his people by feeding white people’s fear of them, she, too, is not absolved from hypocrisy and manipulation. The play is never clear over whether Layla truly loves Imran, is using him to get her own book and tv show, or both, of which Ladnier uses the ambiguity to infuse further intrigue to her character. Unfortunately,  Imran falls quickly for Layla, and the audience does wonder why.

Directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, Layla and Imran really hate each other’s choices but loved the potential of making the other choose better…. more wisely. The problem is that entering a relationship with the purpose of changing the other person signifies that, by all means, you are not connecting or learning to love them. The question Hatef**k proposes is whether this individual truth spans forward into our relationships to our own and with other communities; making its viewers wonder if love, peace, and respect are possible between those that are different or do we end up hatef**king each other. (Figuratively speaking!)

In some ways, the viewer is led to empathize with Imran, and how stuck he feels at having access to privilege only if he plays up every image and motivation sparked by imposing prejudices. Both actors make their characters fiery and intelligent, but stumped on how to alter a historical system of stereotyping that has kept generations locked in second place. Thus, in the setting of Imran’s apartment the couple bicker and blush in love and hate for themselves, each other, and the world. For More Information On Hatef**k Click Here. Hatef**k plays is 90 minutes, with no intermission and plays till March 31 at WP Theater. Location:

WP Theater
2162 Broadway at 76th Street)
New York, NY 10023