A punk revolution, Muslim-girl-style
FOR ANY BAND FORMED OUTSIDE A BOARDROOM, THE disastrous first gig is a rite of passage. Kiss debuted to fewer than 10 people. The Velvet Underground sang about heroin at a high school. And in a new Peacock comedy, a London punk act called Lady Parts performs for the first time in a pub lousy with jeering white guys. “Your husband let you out the house tonight?” one man cracks as the band—four Muslim women of color—takes the stage. They ignore him, launching into a noisy rendition of “9 to 5” and trading looks of astonished joy.
The scene has infectious energy. Yet what’s most remarkable about it is that although it electrifying premiere season, it constitutes the show’s first real depiction of misogyny and Islamophobia. That’s not to say the show is set in a fantasyland or that these women don’t struggle to navigate hybrid identities. But creator Nida Manzoor understands how to tell a culturally specific story without reducing the characters’ experience to a constant confrontation with adversity.
