Identity examines the plight of victims of collateral damage and stereotyping, seen through the prism of a small town Agony Uncle who is up against powerful geo-political forces and who tries his best to set right injustice despite being confronted with insurmountable odds. Inspired by a Robert Fisk article entitled, “Take a Beautiful Woman to the Cinema”, it illustrates the folly of history repeating itself and the danger of superpowers attempting to remake the world in their own image with lofty agendas such as “womens’ empowerment”, human rights and other woke issues. Graham Greene summed it up best when he wryly observed, “The road to the world’s hell is often paved with American good intentions.” The ghastly scenes at Kabul airport during the past few days are eerily reminiscent of Saigon way back in 1973.
Back in 1975, photographer Hulbert van Es snapped a now-iconic picture of desperate people scrambling into a helicopter on a rooftop in Saigon, at the close of the Vietnam War in a scramble codenamed Operation Frequent Wind. That war lasted 20 years, precisely as long as the conflict in Afghanistan. The play attempts to portray what happens to ordinary people when they find themselves up against extraordinary challenges; and how nobility is not necessarily an attribute of the high born.