Theatre review: Dirty Paki Lingerie, Assembly Hall (Venue 35), Edinburgh

By SALLY STOTT
Published on 11/08/2012 16:38

CAUGHT between traditional and western values are six Pakistani-American Muslim women, played with heart and humour by Aizzah Fatima in her wryly observed and amiably subversive one-woman show.

Dirty Paki Lingerie

Assembly Hall (Venue 35)

Star rating: * * *

It is a pertinent look at the contradictions many immigrant or second-generation women face in trying to live up to the expectations of others at a time of massive social and cultural change.

With a keen eye for the absurd, Fatima gives a human face to those who choose to wear a hijab and those who don’t, promoting free choice and tolerance through comic insights into a cross-section of lives. While 65-year-old Asma manically tries to find her thirtysomething daughter a husband from newspaper ads, six-year-old Zahra is called a “terra-mist” by classmates, and a brief encounter on a plane makes a young woman question how she is viewed by a man she meets.

There are too many characters to have time to develop each of them in a way that feels dramatically satisfying, but as a piece that sets out to breaks down prejudice, it’s a success.

• Until 27 August. Today 5:15pm.