Guards at the Taj
Set in Agra, India, circa 1648, Rajiv Joseph 's latest work, Guards at the Taj , focuses on two men who are, fittingly, guards at the Taj. Humayun (Omar Metwally) and Babur (Arian Moayed) are guarding the Taj Mahal, and at rise (literally—their shift begins at dawn), it is the day the 16-years-in-the-making grand mausoleum is to be revealed. The efficient play covers about 48 hours of these two guards carrying out their duties, which include not just guarding the Taj Mahal but also other, more gruesome handy work, though Joseph's play is less about what they do and more about what they say. By and large, Joseph ( Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo , The North Pool ) wrote a romance play, as Huma and Babu (as the two affectionately call each other) ponder the great life questions. They talk about their purpose, they talk about their dreams, they talk about inventions. Mostly, and most deeply, they wonder what beauty is, prompted by the titular Taj, which the emperor has pr...