Politics is So Abstract

Andy Warhol in Iran

Holed up in his air-conditioned room in the Tehran Hilton, American pop artist, Andy Warhol, decides to escape the intense summer heat while on a 1976 trip to Iran. He’s come to this country to take Polaroid photographs of Empress Farah Pahlavi, the wife of the Shah, to use when painting her portrait. She’s commissioned Warhol to paint her likeness, like many other celebrities and political figures before her. His past pop art portraits had included such diverse names as Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Chairman Mao and, his most famous subject, Marilyn Monroe. This part of the play is based on true events, but what happens next is fiction.

Suddenly there’s a knock at the door. Andy assumes it’s room service bringing up the caviar he’s ordered, which is plentiful and less expensive than in New York City. Because Warhol prefers to talk on the phone and not to interact with other people, he asks that the bellboy leave the cart outside the door and Andy will bring it in himself. Farhad, the hotel employee delivering Warhol’s decadent evening repast, says it’s hotel policy that he wheel it directly into the room of the guest. After Farhad is admitted to the hotel room he surprises Andy when he locks the door and pulls a gun on the artist. He tells Warhol that he’s being kidnapped by an Iranian group who oppose the Shah’s terrorist regime and practices. Andy Warhol now faces the horror of being taken away and held hostage.   

Barrington Stage Company originally commissioned Persian-American playwright Brent Askari (“The Refugees,” “American Underground”) to write this play, which premiered there in 2022. Northlight’s Artistic Director BJ Jones found this two-character one-act “a fascinating look at the history of political unrest in Iran and how it informs the current upheaval, led by women.” As written by Askari, Warhol and Farhad are, perhaps surprisingly, both seen as revolutionaries. In this fascinating dramedy, filled with humanity, unexpected humor and tension, two strangers meet in a most unorthodox situation and discover that they’re not so different, after all. Each of the men share deeper connections than might have, at first, seen possible.

The story is intriguing, sometimes quite funny and filled with suspense. The audience is constantly asking themselves, “What’s going to happen next?” It’s also a deeply empathetic story about two men from very different different countries and backgrounds who discover they’re more alike than different. As the story progresses, the terror gives way to the caring and humanity between these two strangers. In the end, Brent Askari’s play offers hope that individual differences can sometimes be bridged through understanding and compassion.

Actor and director Rob Lindley returns to Northlight Theatre to play Andy Warhol. His characterization is unbelievably spot-on, replicating that recognizable Warhol reticence and slow speech pattern, seasoned with the artist’s identifiable effeminate vocal quality. Like the way he created his art, Lindley’s Warhol carefully chooses his thoughts and words. Andy says to Farhad that he should kidnap someone else. He says that he’s an artist and not political. “Politics is so abstract,” he keeps repeating, despite how the Persian revolutionary explains to Warhol that many of his paintings are, in their own way, political. Aided by Costumer supreme, Izumi Inaba, and Wig and Makeup Designer, Natalia Castilla, Mr. Lindley not only sounds like Andy Warhol but looks exactly like him. 

Hamid Dehghani, currently holds an Artistic Fellowship with Northlight Theatre, plus an MFA degree in Directing from Northwestern. Hamid has a vast resume of theatre and film work that speaks to his multitalented achievements. His portrayal of Farhad is perfect. Mr. Dehghani never plays this revolutionist as a one-note villain. Through his obvious discomfort and desperation we understand Farhad’s ultimate objective in this act of violence. But the audience also recognizes this young man’s reluctance and how he’d much rather be doing anything else than participating in this act of violence. It’s an honest, layered characterization that’s very compelling and equal to Mr. Lindley’s superb performance. BJ Jones has done a great job in directing these two talented actors.

The only problem arises from the structure of the play itself. Several times, right from the beginning when Warhol wanders onstage from the aisle, the plot comes to a halt. During these moments, the two characters step outside of the action, break the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience. In doing so, we do learn a great deal about each character as both Warhol and Farhad share their feelings and motivations. And these monologues are often augmented by Mike Tutaj’s excellent projections, which are displayed on the proscenium above the plush hotel room setting (created by the talented Todd Rosenthal). But while these interludes help us understand both characters, they also break the mood. The monologues, while informative, unfortunately provide a disconnect with the audience. Then the two actors have to rev up the action in order to bring the audience back into the tense story at hand.

Everyone, it seems, including Farhad’s group of Iranian extremists, wants, as Warhol predicted, their fifteen minutes of fame. In this entertaining and enlightening 70-minute dramedy we learn new information or are reminded about the details of Andy Warhol’s life. There’s kind of an “American Graffiti” conclusion to the play, in which the characters reveal what happened to both the artist and the Iranian rebel in the end. But the payoff is that, in addition to being a taut tale of suspense between a real-life American artist and a fictional Persian character, this entertaining play reminds us that beneath surface differences, we’re all basically alike.           

Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented January 19-February 19 by Northlight Theatre at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, IL.

Tickets are available in person at the North Shore box office, by calling 847-673-6300 or by going to www.northlight.org.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.