Playwright and Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar was at the rehearsal I saw and explained what he hoped folks would get out of his play: a richer vision of the world, raised consciousness, and something to think and talk about. Mission accomplished. I've been mulling over The Invisible Hand's fiery words, sizzling action, and impassioned performances for almost three days now.
To expand on the Rep's simple summary, The Invisible Hand follows an American banker named Nick (played grippingly by Tom Coiner) who is being held hostage by a militant group in Pakistan. Nick persuades his captors to let him use his skills with the stock market to earn his ransom of $10 million. I know next-to-nothing about the stock market, but as Nick explains his trades to his captors, the audience gets schooled. It's a nice approach an otherwise convoluted subject.
Much emphasis is put on stocks and money, but also the bigger question of money as power and how that power affects us as humans. Each character in The Invisible Hand has their own journey and struggle with power — most starting on opposite ends of the spectrum, but all meeting somewhere in the middle.
The actors in this Rep production bring such fierce performances to the stage, it's easy to get caught up in each character's carefully-crafted arc. Akhtar wrote an ensemble of men into being that, though three of the four would be viewed as the enemy to an American audience, you feel for each of them as well-rounded characters. Of course it's easy to feel for Nick: powerless, desperate, and American — something we can relate to. But what's special about this play is how, at times, the audience is called to feel for the enemy.
Imam, the leader of Nick's captors (played by the commanding Tony Mirrcandani with his booming Tevye of a voice), is shown to be manipulative and wastes no time asserting his power — a power that, at first, has little to do with money. Imam's stooge and fighter-in-training is Dar (played with quiet nuance by Owais Ahmed), a man who begins timid and non-threatening but is slowly groomed into a weapon.
The second-in-command, Bashir (rousingly played by Shalin Agarwal), is a UK transplant who came to Pakistan to fight for a cause he believes in. He gets the most stage time as Nick's vocal, belligerent opponent and partner in stock trading. Bashir begins ruthless, hating all that Nick stands for, but working side-by-side the two find some middle ground — and arguably a bit of friendship. Watching Bashir's relationship with Nick, we see that stereotypes go both ways and that time spent in each other's company can break down those walls. However, the thirst for power is ever-threatening.
Yes there's a lot to The Invisible Hand: A hostage, stocks, the threat of the Middle East, stereotypes, power struggles, religion, ruthless acts, questions like "What is power?" and "Who's responsible?", and I could go on. With so much to take in, it's impossible to go out into the world unaffected. Like I said, I've been mulling over this Milwaukee Rep production for the past three days — everything from the brilliant performances to the smart set design to the story itself and the real world questions it poses. Clearly The Invisible Hand is still working its power over me.
The Invisible Hand is playing now through April 3rd at the Milwaukee Rep. Find more info and tickets at milwaukeerep.com.
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