The House of Bilquis Bibi

Synopsis

It is uncomfortably hot in Jhang, a small town in Pakistan’s fertile Punjab region. Among the mango groves and orchards lies The House of Bilquis Bibi. Inside, a family mourns. With her husband gone, Bilquis must uphold her family’s honour at all costs - the fates of five unmarried daughters lie in her hands. Her solution: to marry off eldest daughter Abida to their cousin Pappo, who is visiting Pakistan from the US. Bilquis turns a blind eye to the illicit nightly visits Pappo pays to his fiancée’s balcony. But as she slowly realises that more than one daughter is staying awake for him, the temperature in the house rises and a tragedy unfolds.

Our Review:

29 September 2010

Until Saturday 2nd October the Oldham Coliseum play host to The House of Bilquis Bibi, brought by award-winning theatre company, Tamasha and Harrogate Theatre. Written by Sudha Bhuchar this is a modern retelling of [Federico García Lorca]’s 1936 masterpiece, The House of Bernarda Alba, set in a volatile present day Pakistan on the frontline of America’s war on terror.

Using the same premise as Lorca’s original, the widowed matriarch, Bilquis, must uphold her family’s honour at all costs, placing her five unmarried daughters under house arrest as they mourn for their late father. In a society where life decisions are made by elders in the family, Bilquis decides the fate of her girls, thus denying them a future of personal fulfillment.

This suffocating world is established onstage by use of the set and positioning of the actors. A windowed wall divides the...

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