Stage/Theatre

What: The Wrong Bashir
Where: Crow’s Theatre, 345 Carlaw Ave.
When: Now, until Sun., June 9
Highlight: Parm Soor’s hilariously heightened performance as Mansour
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
Why you should go: The show is one of the company’s most accessible offerings yet, a crowd-pleasing, farcical two-act that remains rigorous even at its silliest.

IT’S NO SECRET that not-for-profit Toronto theatre veers toward drama, with long monologues and heavy subject matter frequent selections at the jukebox. Although there are fair reasons for this tendency (we should be grateful everyone’s not just doing The Addams Family all the time), a quality comedy can offer a welcome reprieve for frequent theatregoers and an unimposing entry point for first-timers.

In addition to putting on a couple very, very dark shows, Crow’s Theatre has found success programming laughs in its large Guloien Theatre, from the conversational canines of Fifteen Dogs to the bureaucratic buffoonery of The Master Plan. Its latest, the Toronto premiere of B.C. playwright Zahida Rahemtulla’s The Wrong Bashir, directed by Paolo Santalucia in the Guloien Theatre, is one of the company’s most accessible offerings yet, a crowd-pleasing, farcical two-act that remains rigorous even at its silliest.

The snappy comedy concerns the Ladha family, headed by father, Sultan (Sugith Varughese), and mother, Najma (Nimet Kanji), enthusiastic members of Toronto’s Ismaili Muslim community who are thrilled when they get a call informing them their son, Bashir (Sharjil Rasool), has been chosen for the prestigious religious leadership position of “student mukhi.”

But the news renders Bashir apprehensive. And rightfully so: He’s essentially abandoned the religion, preferring to spend his time meditating and recording a rambling, philosophically oriented podcast he distributes to cafés via cassette tape. A proper bohemian — likeable, certainly, but not suited for a gig historically filled by students with PhD aspirations. (His rebellious habits also bring to mind the titular son of Santalucia’s play, Prodigal, which premiered at Crow’s last season.)

Student mukhi selection committee spokespeople Mansour (a hilariously heightened Parm Soor) and Al Nashir (Vijay Mehta) reach the same conclusion when they meet the scruffy undergraduate, clad in a disastrously mismatched getup that includes ratty jeans, a tie-dyed Purple Rain T-shirt, a striped button-down with a palm tree pattern and — unlike everyone else — no shoes (costumes by Ming Wong). Plus, though it might have been simple enough to tell Sultan and Najma their son isn’t the guy they’re looking for, the arrival of several extended family members complicates affairs.

We don’t get to know Bashir deeply. The picture the play paints of his parents and grandfather (portrayed by Salim Rahemtulla, father of the playwright) is far more vivid. In gentle monologues, performed with compassion, the audience hears of their long and arduous journey toward being able to live on their own in Canada. In turn, set and lighting designer Ken Mackenzie realizes their home in extreme detail (and size — the proscenium set stretches the entire width of the stage), justifying the pair’s pride over what they’ve built. Yet these swells of emotion, effective as they sometimes are, always feel like detours. There’s never a doubt the production’s final destination is comedy, busy and brash.