Stephen Gracia’s Mohammed’s Radio was undoubtedly written with the best of intentions but I can’t help but question the way in which the playwright chose to wave his flag for women’s rights and religious tolerance. He dispelled stereotypes of one group by employing the stereotypes of another. Working-class Irish Catholics hulk through the play, seeming the most horrible race to ever settle in America and small towns are portrayed as beds of unbridled racism and abuse of all stripes. It’s been said that there’s some truth to every stereotype and while I agree, there were certain points where the characters seemed cartoonish in their portrayals. Every single male was misogynistic and trapped in adolescence. I credit Gracia for constructing some very complex female characters but I think he handle the men very badly. Terry was the only male who I saw some real conflict in (Mike makes some play at having feelings but they’re feeble and die quickly); all the other “boys” were flat. Gracia hits his audience over the head with the idea that Joe is at heart a “good guy”. Every other character insists on it but Joe never actually shows it. We have to have a tearful soliloquy from Alice to insist that Joe was “different” and “sweet”. It comes towards the play’s end and the audience knows well by now that he’s neither of those things. We’ve been treated to scenes of him throwing beer bottles, advocating for beatings, baiting his children, and being an all-out douche to his wife. If he had was less of an asshole at home, I might have been more willing to buy into his having a secret heart of gold.

In the end, I can’t help but wish Gracia had taken a page from ol’ Tennessee Williams. I see some strong parallels between Mohammed’s Radio and A Streetcar Named Desire. Yes, one deals with Islamophobia and the other with homosexuals and the breakdown of the genteel South. At their core though, the authors both deal with men who hate (or at least demean) women. Gracia’s play needs a Mitch, a male character who’s inner conflict is tangible and genuine. No sloppy asides are needed to convince the audience that he’s a good guy. We know it already. He serves as a beacon of hope that lower-class neighborhoods don’t have to be breeding grounds of rape, misogyny, abuse, etc. By blaming all of Joe’s behavior on his upbringing and friends, the terrible blame on his shoulders is excused to some extent. And that’s just not right.