Behzti
Encyclopedia
Behzti is a play written by the British
Sikh
playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
. The play sparked a controversy
in the United Kingdom
in December 2004. A controversial scene set in a Gurdwara
(Sikh temple
) included scenes of rape
, physical abuse and murder
. Some members of the Sikh community found the play deeply offensive to their faith
. On the opening night, 18 December 2004, at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre
(The Rep), in Birmingham
, England
, a protest organized by local Sikh leaders faced violence that erupted among the protesters. Performances of the play at the Rep were cancelled two days later.
Sewa Singh Mandla, organizer of the protest and chairman of the Council of Sikh Gurdwaras in Birmingham
, stated:
On 20 December 2004, after an emergency meeting of the theatre management, and discussions involving the local Sikh community, West Midlands Police and the Commission for Racial Equality, The Rep decided to cancel the play.
. More than 700 arts figures, including Prunella Scales
, Tariq Ali
, Terry Jones
, Andrew Motion
, Jude Kelly
, Richard Eyre
, Ayub Khan-Din
, Willy Russell, Jonathan Coe
, Sheila Hancock
, Timothy West
, and Samuel West
signed a letter in support of the playwright. The letter read, in part:
Professor Gurharpal Singh, writing in The Guardian
, criticised the protests against the play for promoting an outdated view of Sikhs, and the establishment "promotion of religion in public life" as ignoring internal tensions in communities and stifling dissent.
The author responded
Stephen Glover, writing for The Daily Mail, as reported by sikhtimes.com, commented that while deploring censorship, he did feel a "degree of sympathy for the Sikhs", and found it hard "not to admire" the defence of their beliefs.
Dr. Sarita Malik, writing for ArtsProfessional magazine, noted that the reaction to Behzti showed a sharp divide between minorities and the art community.
One protester, Pritpal Singh, unsuccessfully appealed his conviction, arguing that the assembly was legal and that his rights were violated by the order to disperse. Lady Justice Hallett, speaking for the majority, said the defendant's claim failed to address the rights of those who were frightened or endangered by the protest.
, criticised the play as sensationalist and the negative portrayal of Sikh protest against the play as showing that colonial attitudes towards ethnic minorities remain.
Helen Cross
, writing in The Birmingham Post, described Behzti as "a terrific new play". She went on to say that it was "offensive, and furious and bloodthirsty and angry in all the right places." She noted that much of the action took place in a Gurdwara, and described the play as a "searing comedy" that included rape, abuse, murder, but was "hugely funny, touching and tremendously important." She further credited the writer's ability to "expose hypocrisy and pretence where they find it."
Professor Christie Davies
, in an essay published by the Social Affairs Unit
, an NGO, noted that he had not seen the play, but that he had read it, and could "imagine" how it could be performed. Davies described it as a "clumsy patch-work quilt with weak and hurried stitching."
Asians in Media magazine said of the play: "If you're looking for some witty and thought provoking drama then Behzti is definitely for you. Gurpreet's new play is set in a Gurdwara (Sikh Temple) and explores a number of themes with a variety of interesting characters. "
In 2005 Behzti won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
for the best play written by a woman in the English language
.
The play has been translated into French
by Rudi Bekaert and performed in Brussels
on 16 November 2005.
It was produced in Belgium
and France
in October-December 2006.
It was published (in French) by the theatre publisher Les Solitaires Intempestifs.
Mohan Singh, a local Sikh community leader, said: "When they're doing a play about a Sikh priest raping somebody inside a gurdwara, would any religion take it?"
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, Vincent Nichols, said the play was offensive to people of all faiths: "The right to freedom of expression has corresponding duties to the common good. Such a deliberate, even if fictional, violation of the sacred place of the Sikh religion demeans the sacred places of every religion."
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti is a British Sikh writer. She has written extensively for stage, screen and radio.-Life:Bhatti studied modern languages at Bristol University and has worked as a journalist and an actress....
. The play sparked a controversy
Controversy
Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of opinion. The word was coined from the Latin controversia, as a composite of controversus – "turned in an opposite direction," from contra – "against" – and vertere – to turn, or versus , hence, "to turn...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in December 2004. A controversial scene set in a Gurdwara
Gurdwara
A Gurdwara , meaning the Gateway to the Guru, is the place of worship for Sikhs, the followers of Sikhism. A Gurdwara can be identified from a distance by tall flagpoles bearing the Nishan Sahib ....
(Sikh temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
) included scenes of rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, physical abuse and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
. Some members of the Sikh community found the play deeply offensive to their faith
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
. On the opening night, 18 December 2004, at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre is a theatre and theatre company based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England...
(The Rep), in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, a protest organized by local Sikh leaders faced violence that erupted among the protesters. Performances of the play at the Rep were cancelled two days later.
Cancellation
The opening night performance on 18 December 2004 was cancelled after violence erupted among protesters gathered around the theatre. Three people were arrested for public order offences. Three police officers were injured. The Sikh protest organizers stated that they did not support the violence of a minority of protesters, and stated they would be happy to see minor changes in the script so that the play was not set in a Sikh temple.Sewa Singh Mandla, organizer of the protest and chairman of the Council of Sikh Gurdwaras in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, stated:
In a Sikh temple, sexual abuse does not take place, kissing and dancing don't take place, rape doesn't take place, homosexual activity doesn't take place, murders do not take place.
On 20 December 2004, after an emergency meeting of the theatre management, and discussions involving the local Sikh community, West Midlands Police and the Commission for Racial Equality, The Rep decided to cancel the play.
Response to protest and cancellation
Supporters of the play said the cancellation was an affront to freedom of speechFreedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
. More than 700 arts figures, including Prunella Scales
Prunella Scales
Prunella Scales CBE is an English actress, known for her role as Basil Fawlty's long-suffering wife in the British comedy Fawlty Towers and her award-nominated role as Queen Elizabeth II in the British film A Question of Attribution.-Career:Throughout her long career, Scales has usually been cast...
, Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
, Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....
, Andrew Motion
Andrew Motion
Sir Andrew Motion, FRSL is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.- Life and career :...
, Jude Kelly
Jude Kelly
Judith Pamela Kelly OBE is a theatre director and producer from Liverpool, England.Kelly founded Solent People's Theatre, a touring company in 1976, and was artistic director of the Battersea Arts Centre from 1980 to 1985. In 1986, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, Richard Eyre
Richard Eyre
Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre CBE is an English director of film, theatre, television, and opera.-Biography:Eyre was educated at Sherborne School, an independent school for boys in the market town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset in south-west England, followed by Peterhouse at the University...
, Ayub Khan-Din
Ayub Khan-Din
Ayub Khan-Din is a British Pakistani actor and playwright.As an actor, Khan-Din participated in some 20 British films and TV series in the late 1980s and the 1990s...
, Willy Russell, Jonathan Coe
Jonathan Coe
Jonathan Coe is an English novelist and writer. His work has an underlying preoccupation with political issues, although this serious engagement is often expressed comically in the form of satire. For example, What a Carve Up! reworks the plot of an old 1960s spoof horror film of the same name...
, Sheila Hancock
Sheila Hancock
Sheila Cameron Hancock, CBE is an English actress and author.-Early life:Sheila Hancock was born in Blackgang on the Isle of Wight, the daughter of Ivy Louise and Enrico Cameron Hancock, who was a publican. Her sister Billie is seven years older...
, Timothy West
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
, and Samuel West
Samuel West
Samuel Alexander Joseph West is an English actor and theatre director. He is perhaps best known for his role in Howards End and his work on stage. He also starred in the award-winning play ENRON...
signed a letter in support of the playwright. The letter read, in part:
We all have the right to protest peacefully if a work of art offends us. We do not have the right to use violence and intimidation to prevent that work of art from being seen by others.
Professor Gurharpal Singh, writing in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, criticised the protests against the play for promoting an outdated view of Sikhs, and the establishment "promotion of religion in public life" as ignoring internal tensions in communities and stifling dissent.
The author responded
Religion and art have collided for centuries, and will carry on doing battle long after my play and I are forgotten. The tension between who I am, a British-born Sikh woman, and what I do, which is write drama, is at the heart of the matter. These questions of how differences in perspective and belief are negotiated in Britain today will, I hope, continue to bring about a lively and vital debate.
Stephen Glover, writing for The Daily Mail, as reported by sikhtimes.com, commented that while deploring censorship, he did feel a "degree of sympathy for the Sikhs", and found it hard "not to admire" the defence of their beliefs.
Dr. Sarita Malik, writing for ArtsProfessional magazine, noted that the reaction to Behzti showed a sharp divide between minorities and the art community.
One protester, Pritpal Singh, unsuccessfully appealed his conviction, arguing that the assembly was legal and that his rights were violated by the order to disperse. Lady Justice Hallett, speaking for the majority, said the defendant's claim failed to address the rights of those who were frightened or endangered by the protest.
Reception
Dr. Jasdev Singh Rai, writing for The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, criticised the play as sensationalist and the negative portrayal of Sikh protest against the play as showing that colonial attitudes towards ethnic minorities remain.
Helen Cross
Helen Cross
Helen Cross is an English author. She was raised in East Yorkshire and educated at the University of East Anglia.Cross's first novel, My Summer of Love, was published in 2001 and was the winner of a Betty Trask Award in 2002. It was made into an acclaimed film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski and...
, writing in The Birmingham Post, described Behzti as "a terrific new play". She went on to say that it was "offensive, and furious and bloodthirsty and angry in all the right places." She noted that much of the action took place in a Gurdwara, and described the play as a "searing comedy" that included rape, abuse, murder, but was "hugely funny, touching and tremendously important." She further credited the writer's ability to "expose hypocrisy and pretence where they find it."
Professor Christie Davies
Christie Davies
Christie Davies is a British sociologist, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Reading, England, the author of many articles and books on criminology, the sociology of morality, censorship, and humor...
, in an essay published by the Social Affairs Unit
Social Affairs Unit
The Social Affairs Unit is a right-leaning think tank in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1980 as an offshoot of the Institute of Economic Affairs, it publishes books on a variety of social issues...
, an NGO, noted that he had not seen the play, but that he had read it, and could "imagine" how it could be performed. Davies described it as a "clumsy patch-work quilt with weak and hurried stitching."
Asians in Media magazine said of the play: "If you're looking for some witty and thought provoking drama then Behzti is definitely for you. Gurpreet's new play is set in a Gurdwara (Sikh Temple) and explores a number of themes with a variety of interesting characters. "
In 2005 Behzti won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is for English-language women playwrights. Named for Susan Smith, alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer.-Winners:* 1978-79 Mary O'Malley* 1979-80 Barbara Schneider...
for the best play written by a woman in the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
The play has been translated into French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
by Rudi Bekaert and performed in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
on 16 November 2005.
It was produced in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in October-December 2006.
It was published (in French) by the theatre publisher Les Solitaires Intempestifs.
Mohan Singh, a local Sikh community leader, said: "When they're doing a play about a Sikh priest raping somebody inside a gurdwara, would any religion take it?"
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, Vincent Nichols, said the play was offensive to people of all faiths: "The right to freedom of expression has corresponding duties to the common good. Such a deliberate, even if fictional, violation of the sacred place of the Sikh religion demeans the sacred places of every religion."
External links
- Stephen Glover of The Daily Mail - Abhor Violence, Not Protest
- Times Online - Extremists hijacked play protest
- Birmingham Repertory Theatre
- BBC News - Theatre ends play in Sikh protest
- Daily Telegraph - Violent Sikh demo forces theatre to cancel play
- Dr Sarita Malik - Censorship - life six months after Behzti
- BBC News: Protest play could find new venue