“Everything was shocking, everything was new,” says Adnan, an Iraqi translator working for the Americans in George Packer’s first-time play “Betrayed“. “But that was before.”
New Yorker writer George Packer’s “Betrayed” takes a look at Iraq through “before” and “after” lenses, illuminating the lives of Iraqis who have risked everything for the Americans, only to find themselves lost in a quagmire of indifference and bureaucracy. “Betrayed” flips open the reporting notebooks of Packer’s award-winning journalism and brings the voices of his subjects to stark, unflinching life. Based on Packer’s 2007 article for the New Yorker, with some scenes drawing directly from that text, “Betrayed” depicts how quickly the lives of Iraqis working as translators and political advisors to the Americans go from priceless to meaningless in the eyes of their employers.
The play, a Culture Project production, is tightly staged and directed by Pippin Parker, who makes exceptional use of the theatre’s small space. As the heat turns up and the Iraqi workers come to grips with how much they risk while collaborating with the Americans, simple gestures convey the enormity of the strain. A heated exchange of words between two of the translators oscillates between a shouting match and furious scribbling as they try to get back to work, their pens serving as their weapons. In another scene, an Iraqi translator’s constant touches to his forehead demonstrate the anguish of his situation and his effort, perhaps, to divine answers.
As the play progresses, the subject of identity takes center stage. Two translators, played with great economy and strength by Sevan Greene and Waleed F. Zuaiter, work furiously to get the Americans to change the translator’s badges, an immediate marker of their collaboration and a bulls eye to anyone interested in doing them harm. A second story is revealed as Intisar, a female Iraqi translator played by the brassy Aadya Bedi, grapples with the pressure to wear the jiljab, the Islamic covering for women. If she does, she eases one more layer of social pressure against her, though at the expense of her own sense of identity. If she does not, those who think she’s working for the Americans will have their worst suspicions confirmed. In one of the most moving scenes of the play, Intisar stands alone under a spotlight, wordlessly struggling with the choice she faces.
American swagger and ignorance in Iraq is deftly captured by Jeremy Beck’s portrayal of a security officer as well as Mike Doyle’s role as the American foreign service officer. Yet the play never falls into stock portrayals or easy answers as the Americans illustrate their own efforts to know just who and how and why to trust. The American obsession with lie detector tests, for example, illustrated by Beck forcefully strapping on its machinery, demonstrates the struggle for security as much as it does the cruelty of American suspicion of all Iraqis.
The play hits a few flat notes, chiefly with spots of dialogue that contain too many cutesy jokes. “Betrayed” also focuses overwhelmingly on the plight of the male translators, whose stories develop rich nuances and depth while the female story remains flat. This may be a reflection of the access Packer had in Iraq, but far more could be done to bring forward the bravery and hard work of the Iraqi women who have become mixed up in this experiment.
Packer’s love of language and desire to bring the stories of the Iraqi supporters to life is evident throughout “Betrayed”, and is thrown into stunning relief as texts of letters describing the imminent threat to the collaborators is projected in increasingly large text against the back wall of the theatre. As Packer tells the Observer in a recent interview, “It’s kind of unreal and thrilling to see these actors and the set and the direction pulling together what has been raw life.” With this combination of text and performance, Packer brings the raw life he observed directly to us.
“Betrayed” comes to no easy conclusions as the Iraqi workers finally realize the strange deal of reliance and abandonment the Americans have struck for them. The threats they face on the street, coupled with the hot-cold American attitude inside the Green Zone, ultimately lead many to believe the risks are just not worth it.
“In the end, it was so simple to quit,” one of the translators says in a closing monologue as he prepares to leave Iraq. It’s a line that rings immediately true and yet it’s fraught with ambiguity as America itself seeks a way forward in Iraq.
If neither Packer’s book The Assassins’ Gate nor his prolific journalism have done enough to highlight the injustices of the Iraq war, Betrayed is an important addition to the arsenal. But if this play is to reach its intended audience, it needs to be staged on Capitol Hill, not downtown New York.
“Betrayed”, by George Packer; directed by Pippin Parker; sets and lighting by Garin Marschall; costumes by Rabiah Troncelliti; sound by Eric Shim; production stage manager, Leanne L. Long. Presented by the Culture Project, Allan Buchman, producing artistic director. At the Culture Project, 55 Mercer Street, SoHo; (212) 352-3101. Through April 13th. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes.
WITH: Jeremy Beck (Soldier/Regional Security Officer), Aadya Bedi (Intisar), Mike Doyle (Prescott), Ramsey Faragallah (Cursing Man/Old Man/Dishdasha Man/Eggplant Face/Ambassador), Sevan Greene (Laith) and Waleed F. Zuaiter (Adnan).
Caroline Cooper, a New York City-based writer, has just returned to the U.S. from Indonesia, where she was the communications manager for the UN. She has written for the Washington Post, the New York Times Beijing Bureau, the Wall Street Journal Asia, and Tank magazine.
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