Pressing play on “Mohammed’s Radio”

In the case of “Mohammed’s Radio,” my reception of the play on paper differed greatly between having read and seen a staged reading of the play. Whether this be a consequence of the skill of the actors, or simply giving a human face and voice to black ink on white paper, the play shook me deeper and more profoundly than have many other plays. Even though stage acting was not involved, it was made clear very quickly that the actors where wholly invested in their characters. In a way that I have never thought I would experience a reading of a play, I felt invested in the play, so much so that my blood boiled when a “punch” or “bottle” was thrown; my mind raced to overcome challenges faced by the characters, even though I had never had to answer the call to defend a faith to which I have willingly handed my heart and mind.

In the case of Kelly, my opinion that her faith was true holds. The question of whether people act for the wrong reasons is most difficult to answer in a religious context. Faith, in many cases, is no joking matter, and neither are the circumstances that drove Kelly to covert to Islam. I do believe that she chose to covert willingly, but that her circumstances would ultimately decide how much of that faith she would retain. In addition, getting to hear the playwright’s own take was helpful in answering questions that may not have been satisfied until completing a second or even third reading of the script.

I am a far more visual learner, which may be the reason why seeing and hearing the play read out loud by the actors both forced me to interact with issues that – for most westerners – have been kept behind a television screen. The reading only further intrenched the ideas that I had about the nature of each character in my mind, especially in the case of Kelly. Reading the script birthed these feelings and thoughts in me, but experiencing the staged reading meant that these sentiments of mine now had a time and place to exert themselves.

Fantastic play. Invested actors. A devoted director. The stage was set, and so “play” was pressed.