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The Who & the What
The Pulitzer prize-winning author of Disgraced explores the conflict that erupts within a Muslim family in Atlanta when an independent-minded daughter writes a provocative novel that offends her more conservative father and sister. Zarina has a bone to pick with the place of women in her Muslim faith, and she's been writing a book about the Prophet Muhammad that aims to set the record straight. When her traditional father and sister discover the manuscript, it threatens to tear her family apart. With humor and ferocity, Akhtar's incisive new drama about love, art, and religion examines the chasm between our traditions and our contemporary lives.
53 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
About the author
Ayad Akhtar
17 books993 followersAyad Akhtar is a playwright, novelist, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the author of American Dervish (Little, Brown & Co.), published in over 20 languages and named a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2012. As a playwright, he has written Junk (Lincoln Center, Broadway; Kennedy Prize for American Drama, Tony nomination); Disgraced (Lincoln Center, Broadway; Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tony nomination); The Who & The What (Lincoln Center); and The Invisible Hand (NYTW; Obie Award, Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award, Olivier, and Evening Standard nominations). As a screenwriter, he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for The War Within. Among other honors, Akhtar is the recipient the Steinberg Playwrighting Award, the Nestroy Award, the Erwin Piscator Award, as well as fellowships from the American Academy in Rome, MacDowell, the Sundance Institute, and Yaddo, where he serves as a Board Director. Additionally, Ayad is a Board Trustee at PEN/America and New York Theatre Workshop.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 30, 2015
Not quite as devastating as his Pulitzer-winning 'Disgraced', but still an exciting, thematically interesting play by the multi-talented Akhtar. Just not quite sure I would agree with his assessment this is a comedy (yes, it is very funny in spots, but I think generally more dramatic than comic).
May 15, 2020
There's a lot to love and admire about Ayad Akhtar’s 'The Who & The What'. The play portrays the complex dynamics within a first-generation Muslim-American family, with particular attention to the "gender politics" and the place of women in Islam.
Widowed Afzal is a pious Muslim and loves his two daughters Zarina and Mahwish with a fervor that is almost religious in nature. But Afzal’s views are not just conservative, but stubbornly patriarchal. And when he learns of his older daughter’s novel that humanize Prophet Muhammad, a lacerating cultural clash becomes inevitable. The generational and philosophical conflict between headstrong independent daughter and paternalistic father forms the crux of the drama.
The characters are well-defined and three-dimensional. Lighter comedy mingles with weighty themes, in the script that provides the necessary relief. What makes the play so important is the uniquely Islamic perspective Akthar brings to contemporary American writing. I enjoyed this quite a bit.
Widowed Afzal is a pious Muslim and loves his two daughters Zarina and Mahwish with a fervor that is almost religious in nature. But Afzal’s views are not just conservative, but stubbornly patriarchal. And when he learns of his older daughter’s novel that humanize Prophet Muhammad, a lacerating cultural clash becomes inevitable. The generational and philosophical conflict between headstrong independent daughter and paternalistic father forms the crux of the drama.
The characters are well-defined and three-dimensional. Lighter comedy mingles with weighty themes, in the script that provides the necessary relief. What makes the play so important is the uniquely Islamic perspective Akthar brings to contemporary American writing. I enjoyed this quite a bit.
May 27, 2021
What a terrific play!
I loved Eli and Zarina. Eli was so supportive, even when he couldn't truly understand the depths of her psyche that she ended up penning down, especially in the last act and Epilogue.
Zarina was a delight to read. I need more characters like her in fiction.
Afzal was necessary to show the traditional opinions that have been carried out for centuries, without being questioned, and suddenly his daughter not only questions them personally but goes ahead writing a book humanizing the Prophet in ways he was previously devoid of, breaking the oppressive norms set for women.
Marwish was another character who presented an insight into the mind of a woman almost opposite to that of Zarina, who was made to realize the importance of choice, and how she was entitled to have one.
This play was a breath of fresh air and I was genuinely unaware about many part of the play yet it made me grasp them beautifully.
I loved Eli and Zarina. Eli was so supportive, even when he couldn't truly understand the depths of her psyche that she ended up penning down, especially in the last act and Epilogue.
Zarina was a delight to read. I need more characters like her in fiction.
Afzal was necessary to show the traditional opinions that have been carried out for centuries, without being questioned, and suddenly his daughter not only questions them personally but goes ahead writing a book humanizing the Prophet in ways he was previously devoid of, breaking the oppressive norms set for women.
Marwish was another character who presented an insight into the mind of a woman almost opposite to that of Zarina, who was made to realize the importance of choice, and how she was entitled to have one.
This play was a breath of fresh air and I was genuinely unaware about many part of the play yet it made me grasp them beautifully.
August 25, 2022
This follow-up to Akhtar's phenomenal Disgraced isn't as strong, but it still does address religion's complexities well, and brings to life four characters whose lives have been impacted differently from it. Akhtar also goes into how work can be interpreted from different viewpoints in regards to Zarina's manuscript. How we respond to media depends on how we've lived, and Zarina's novel as the dramatic object works wonders.
The time skips are a little abrupt on page, which did diminish some of the tension in Mahwish's subplot the most. However, The Who and the What was still another great drama from Akhtar, whose dialogue and staging blossoms in text form. I'm looking forward to the day when I can see one of his shows live.
The time skips are a little abrupt on page, which did diminish some of the tension in Mahwish's subplot the most. However, The Who and the What was still another great drama from Akhtar, whose dialogue and staging blossoms in text form. I'm looking forward to the day when I can see one of his shows live.
April 29, 2018
Really excellent play that works off of the premise of Taming of the Shrew and modernizes it with a Pakistani-American family. The counter-story about Zarina's book which humanizes the prophet Mohammad and helps her to process the difficult gender politics that surround her life as a woman torn between her family and her career, as well as her own struggle with her religion, is contemplative and fascinating. I enjoyed this quite a bit.
January 30, 2022
One of my favorite authors, Ayad Akhtar did not disappoint. The characters are authentic, the emotion palpable and moving, and the dialogue pulls me right into the story. Reading The Who & The What inspires me to reread his other plays. A big thank you to Maryna who gifted me the last of Akhtar’s published books I had yet to read.
February 21, 2019
May teach this next year
August 14, 2019
reread this play for the first time in about three years and it was just as good as remembered!
September 27, 2019
A strong start and an interesting premise, but things happen a little too quickly and the central relationship goes weirdly unexplored.
Read
May 10, 2022Wish Zarina's book was real so I could read it.
Read
September 25, 2023read for my design class 🙌
June 5, 2026
Interesting and complex family dynamics.
August 22, 2021
"If you can't take me at MY WORST, you don't deserve me at MY BEST."
It's badly TRUE!!!
It's badly TRUE!!!
December 2, 2016
I started to read this play on the bus home from working late. I flipped through and saw that the scenes were short and thought I'd read a few on the way home and finish the next day. I didn't manage to sleep that night until 2 am because I was so transfixed.
I knew Akhtar's play Disgraced had won a Pulitzer, but I've taken to a habit of reading an author's less prestigious work first when I can. And I'm glad I did in this case. Not only does this play explore the difficult gender politics of Islam from a generous and familiar perspective, but it also examines the role of the artist in questioning ideological norms and seeking to understand why things are the way they are, even the most personal and closely held ideologies. And best of all, it's a comedy. Not a comedy in the laugh out loud sense (though you certainly should laugh), but structurally. As Akhtar says in his author's note, it's about addition, the promise of new life, rather than subtraction and the loss of life. In times like these, it's encouraging to read a play that grapples with complex issues and still provide a spark of hope.
I knew Akhtar's play Disgraced had won a Pulitzer, but I've taken to a habit of reading an author's less prestigious work first when I can. And I'm glad I did in this case. Not only does this play explore the difficult gender politics of Islam from a generous and familiar perspective, but it also examines the role of the artist in questioning ideological norms and seeking to understand why things are the way they are, even the most personal and closely held ideologies. And best of all, it's a comedy. Not a comedy in the laugh out loud sense (though you certainly should laugh), but structurally. As Akhtar says in his author's note, it's about addition, the promise of new life, rather than subtraction and the loss of life. In times like these, it's encouraging to read a play that grapples with complex issues and still provide a spark of hope.
January 31, 2016
Didactic, facile, shallow. Made me feel better about not spending $80 on a ticket to see Disgraced. We need a more penetrating intellect/artist to have a go at this topical theme. His insights are 1970s-Norman-Lear-comedy deep.
Okay, so my Indian wife has objected to this review, calling me out on my cultural ignorance. I should have prefaced that I'm not the audience for this play (it does not endeavor anything I'm interested in). I don't doubt that there is an audience who will be made to think by this play, I'm just not sure they're the kind of people who attend plays. One who has never contemplated the 'who/what' of the human being named Jesus, Muhammad, Siddhartha, etc., probably won't spend much time in theatres or libraries.
Further addendum: I read Disgraced and it's pretty great.
Okay, so my Indian wife has objected to this review, calling me out on my cultural ignorance. I should have prefaced that I'm not the audience for this play (it does not endeavor anything I'm interested in). I don't doubt that there is an audience who will be made to think by this play, I'm just not sure they're the kind of people who attend plays. One who has never contemplated the 'who/what' of the human being named Jesus, Muhammad, Siddhartha, etc., probably won't spend much time in theatres or libraries.
Further addendum: I read Disgraced and it's pretty great.
November 16, 2016
Fortunately I wasted less time by watching the play instead of reading it. This does nothing but prove how much time we waste on superficial issues and perpetuate religious farce. If Christians have no problem with the humanity of Christ, why should Muslims have such a huge issue with the notion that their prophet is human, when they are the ones who stress that he is not to be revered as one would God, no less!
August 23, 2015
Akhtar is one of the most consistently interesting writers analyzing the state of the Muslim American, exploring ties to religious tradition and the flouting of that same tradition. Here he tackles gender inequality as it relates to Muslim identity, and while its structure isn't as ready-made as that of his earlier Disgraced, the end study is solid.
March 25, 2016
Another fascinating, well-written play!
April 26, 2016
Amazing. If you can see this or Disgraced..... run don't walk.
June 27, 2023
Ayad Akhtar writes the most interesting plays
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews