Lorilei

“My name is Lorilei, Lorilei Guillory. Do you know what that means?” Thus began and ended the thought provoking play Lorileli – A Meditation on Loss staged in Lahore last weekend. It might have been the first and the last question raised by the scriptwriter, but it was certainly not the only one. Based on a script created verbatim from the interviews of Lorilei Guillory during the trial of her son’s murderer, Ricky Langley, the monologue put the spotlight on the need to acknowledge the flip side of the coin. The dramatization of Lorilei’s battle to overcome the trauma of losing her six year old son, Jeremy, to murder by a paedophile was a study a difference of opinion can make.

Performed and directed by two different actors, Nadia Jamil and Sania Saeed, on two consecutive nights in two different languages, Lorilei brought into focus the importance of acknowledging the moral ambiguities in life. With the English script provided by the Justice Project Pakistan, and the Urdu translation done by Sania Saeed, the audience was treated to a visual demonstration of the universality of human dilemmas. The differences in the Urdu and English transaltions did not detract from the essence of Lorilei’s story, instead the two performances became a study in the similarity of human behaviour across cultures.

Nadia Jamil’s English-speaking Lorilei goes from a grief-stricken mother to a woman not afraid to take on society for the cause of compassion and mercy. Her initial somewhat apologetic stance transforms into determination with the realization that good and evil are relative terms. Jamil’s portrayal of a mother thrown into the depths of depression by the forced loss of her child was heart-wrenching without being melodramatic. Sania Saeed’s Urdu speaking Lorilei was a woman of character rooted in the reality of being a woman in the male-centric society of Pakistan, a bolder and more emphatic version expressing the need for a woman to be unapologetic about her convictions if she wants to be heard in our part of the world. Her Lorilei had none of the nervous gestures exhibited by the South American woman portrayed by Jamil. Sitting in the crowd on both days, I was left marveling at the actors/directors’ brilliant use of subtlety to express the difference of social context.

[quote]Sania Saeed's Lorilei had none of the nervous gestures exhibited by the South American woman portrayed by Jamil[/quote]

Lorilei’s message was a strong one. The play began with the audience being informed of the myth attributed to the protagonist’s name in German culture. But just as the story surrounding Lorilei as a siren who beguiles men to their death has no real basis in German mythology, the multiple taboos embedded in our collective social psyche about certain aspects of human behavior were punctured by the true story of a woman trying to discover a semblance of rationality behind inhuman acts like murder and rape.

Produced by Olomopolo Media, the play was an initiative of Justice Project Pakistan, a non-profit law firm based in Lahore that intends to prevent human rights violations against the poorest and most despised prisoners under trial by the Pakistani Justice system – especially those suffering from mental illnesses and condemned to the death sentence. According to the JPP website, Pakistan currently has the highest number of prisoners on death row, numbering 8,000 – most of whom have been awaiting their own execution for a number of years. Unlike the American justice system, the criminal justice system in Pakistan is more compassionate since a death sentence can be overturned by the victim’s decision to show mercy. The Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan has taken steps to remedy the degrading and inhumane prison conditions faced by prisoners already condemned to a life and death of social ostracization. Similarly, the Mental Health Ordinance was created in 2001 to provide better treatment and protection to prisoners suffering from mental illnesses. However, complete implementation is still far off.

The re-enactment of Lorilei brought into focus the societal silence that engulfs the issues of murder and mental illnesses such as Schizophrenia — not only in Pakistan but all over the world. Just the mention of these all too real facets of human life is enough to make most people uncomfortable. Social indifference and apathy is quickly disguised by vociferous demands and unquestioning support for the harshest of punishments. People react with sel-righteous indignation when compassion for the accused is hinted at. Blame and anger is transferred from the perpetrator to the victim or on to the family that dares to find closure and personal peace through compassion and mercy.

The challenge that Lorilei Guillory faced in climbing out of the abyss of depression and uncovering the reasons behind Ricky Langley’s mental instability requires the kind of compassion many of us are unable to muster up among the constant barrage of hate crimes we are inundated by. Lorilei’e emphatic declaration that it is society itself and its own lack of constructive action that creates an unending cycle of crime and revenge is a universal truth that transcends all cultural divides. The death penalty and mental illnesses are both controversial topics that are hurriedly swept under the carpet in any discussion on human rights. Add to this the unmentionable subject of child-abuse and abortion, even for the sake of medical reasons, and you got a theatrical production which left the viewers with a lot to think about. With more people willing to support social institutions and organizations like the Justice Project Pakistan in providing timely intervention and help, we just might be able to provide an optimistic answer to Lorilei’s most important query: “Who is looking out for these people?”