The soothing tones of Indian classical and folk music envelop the stage, guiding the audience through Pangea World Theater’s new play, 5 weeks, which tells the story of a nation’s loss through the devastation and displacement that individual families – Hindu, Muslim, and Parsi – experienced after the 1947 India-Pakistan partition and are still feeling the aftereffects of today. The play’s title refers to the insultingly short amount of time a British lord spent deciding on the borders for India and Pakistan, by simply drawing a line on a map that put the majority of Hindus on one side and the majority of Muslims on the other. After these borders were drawn, violence ensued as the Hindu minority in Pakistan fled to India and the Muslim minority in India fled to Pakistan. Over 15 million refugees were created.

5 Weeks presents the narratives of several Hindu, Muslim, and Parsi families by showing audience members short snapshots of their lives a few months before and after the partition. By weaving these stories together and revealing the depths of the pain and (sometimes) prejudice of those affected, 5 weeks puts the humanity of these families on center stage, in all their terrible and wonderful glory.

The use of several different languages – Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, and Bengali – accompanied by English subtitles allowed the audience to get a glimpse of the diversity of the region, but it also had a startingly unifying effect: the external differences the characters had in terms of their clothing, languages, and class had no bearing on how they were depicted in terms of their dignity as human beings. In times of violence and chaos, it is easy for those affected to stereotype the group their attackers claim to belong to – and the characters in 5 Weeks certainly did, at times, make blanket statements about Muslims or Hindus. However, the play itself remained firmly dedicated to presenting the humanity of every victim. As a coffin-bearer from Bombay said, “Do you think these vultures discriminate between Parsees, Hindus, and Muslims?” Furthermore, throughout the play, nearly every refugee asked the still-unaswered and heartbreakingly relevant question: “where will we go?”

The crimes committed against women during the partition were especially focused on, sending a clear message that the “moments of madness” that characterized the event caused real, lasting trauma for generations to come. With a story that both celebrates human resilience and casts light on the atrocities of the partition, 5 Weeks is an incredibly important play to watch.

 5 Weeks runs through April 23 at the Minneapolis Lab Theater.

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

5 out of 5 stars