2.5 stars
SHARBAT is a semi-autobiographical play from writer and actor Dore Khan, produced by the Third Culture Kids Theatre Company.
This show explores the relationship between three sisters—Shaz, Batty, and Roo—who each are attempting to make sense of their identities as Muslim Australians. In navigating their place in the world as well as their relationships with each other, the sisters must contend with grief, cultural expectations, and the ongoing impact of endemic Islamophobia within the broader community.
Image courtesy of Third Culture Kids
SHARBAT is set within the limited space of Roo’s small apartment and begins when Shaz, Batty and Roo’s estranged older sister, arrives unexpectedly on their doorstep. Shaz decides to stay the night so the sisters can spend the next day unpacking boxes and setting up the new apartment together.
As different objects are discovered within the boxes, they trigger memories and force the sisters to confront old wounds and their collective sense of loss, betrayal, and isolation.
This is an ambitious play that wants to share the challenges and joys of the Muslim Australian diaspora.
The familiar trope of linking events of the past and shared histories through domestic objects works well, however, in its need to make the audience see the spectrum of experiences for Muslim Australians SHARBAT packs too much into too little.
The damaged relationship between the sisters acts as the launching point for broader issues of identity, grief, racism, terrorism, culture, religion, loneliness in a digital age, gender relations, and marriage breakdown—all in a 90-minute period. As a result, the performances suffer from a script that is overwritten. Neither the actors nor the audience are given space to engage with the themes on an emotional level. Too often the audience finds itself in the position of being told what to think, rather than immersed in an experience that elicits empathy.
There are moments in SHARBAT that are genuinely touching and funny. These glimpses of the play’s potential are found in the small, intimate interactions between Shaz, Batty, and Roo that are left unexplained.
The heart of SHARBAT is genuine, but its desire to be understood and give voice to the myriad of issues affecting Muslim Australians produces a wide but superficial engagement with the play’s themes.
SHARBAT is running until 2 November at The Blue Room Theatre.
SUZANNE MOORE