total timepass...

I recently saw a play in the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, called 'The Meeting'. Before I went for the play, I had no clue where it was located. Once I started driving there, it turned out to be in the CBD (Central Business District) part of town, which is known to be its not so safe part. I always feel a bit unprepared for driving in that part of the city, but I had booked the tickets, so turned up anyways. Once there though, it was a different experience. The whole area around, called Newtown was quite vibrant and full of people chilling and shopping in the mall while some had come to visit the museums around. Another example of how perceptions can be different from reality:). The theatre was quite small and felt very cosy with a few seats surrounding the stage in three directions. The play was quite short, barely an hour or so. And I hadn't read about the play before, so it was a complete surprise for me. Sometime in between the performance, I figured out that it w

'And then there were none' is an Agatha Christie whodunit play. Its already been made into a Hollywood movie as well as a Bollywood one. So when I got an opportunity to see the play in the theatre, I was expecting it to be not as entertaining as if I hadn't known the story. And how wrong I was!! The play we saw was in Leeds (and I must say the theatre was quite grand and larger than some of the ones I have gone to in London). The setting of the play is 10 'little soldiers' who all land up in an empty house on an island off Devon in the UK. They were all conned into coming there in a suspicious way. They are get stuck there, isolated and unable to get off the island. And then suspicious things start happening. Also, each of them is accused of having abetted a murder which they all deny in the beginning but somehow seems to be connected to their being on the island itself. Slowly, as the story unfolds, one by one, all of them start getting murdered. And as we lea

I recently saw the play ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ (hopefully I got the name right!) and I am still trying to figure out my views on it. We went in thinking it would be a light hearted mystery play and it was anything but that. The option we had passed on was ‘The Book of Mormons’ and I think that also had a part to play in the fact that I wasn’t impressed:). The play starts with the murder of a dog, and the neighbour autistic boy Christopher gets involved in it. The play is then onwards about Christopher - a teenager staying with his father and whose mother is dead. He is shown as a relatively intelligent boy, but with his own social problems. He is obsessed with finding the truth about the dog, and on the way, he uncovers secrets about his own family - about his father and his mother. But more than that, this journey helps him discover himself, his strengths and what all he is capable of. I generally don’t like movies and plays which are about rediscove

We recently saw a play called 'Dara' at the National Theatre in London. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. Dara portrays the struggle that had taken place between Shah Jahan's eldest son, Dara and his youngest son, Aurangzeb for the Mughal crown. We all know who had won, but most of us don't know how he had won it. This play is a story of what had happened between the two... Dara had been his father's favourite forever, his chosen heir. While Aurangzeb had always been one of the other sons, younger and ignored. This childish rivalry had taken the shape of adult hatred, to the point that Aurangzeb killed Dara and enslaved his father for years to get to the crown. The play details scenes from their childhood to adulthood; interactions between the brothers, with their sisters and father; of Aurangzeb's love for a Hindu woman; his getting together with his brother Murad to beat Dara; Dara's running away but getting caught due to his naivete; and then Aurangzeb

The play "Dear Father" stars Paresh Rawal and was playing recently in London. I wasn’t able to find any reviews of the play and went for it purely because of the star power of Paresh Rawal. He is a great actor and so this would be a great play. Dear Father is a comedy-thriller-suspense-social-message play all rolled into one. It is based on the lives of a son, his wife and his father, which is turned upside down when the father (Paresh Rawal) ends up in hospital after falling from their terrace. A cop (also played by Paresh Rawal) lands up at their place, and what follows is a dissection of the last few days of the household leading up to the father’s accident, and also an unraveling of the issues between the three that had cropped up over those days. This play actually felt at times like a saas-bahu serial except that there was no saas but a sasur:). The issues were the same, the father had a lot of time at hand and found mistakes with the wife. The wife did not like t

Strangers on a train is a play based on the Hitchcock movie by the same name, but with a storyline of its own. It is based on quite an interesting idea, that two strangers who meet on a train agree to murder a person for the other. And they think they will never get caught, because the police will never suspect them as they are not connected. One of those people is a rich heir (Bruno), who wants to have his father out of the way, and the other is an architect (Guy) who is troubled by his ex-wife. What follows is a psychological thriller, where Bruno carries out the murder and then blackmails Guy into committing his part of the deal. But Bruno does not leave Guy alone, he vitiates his life, his soul, his relationship with his wife, and ruins him to the point of destruction. The play is very well acted, and Bruno as a psychologically challenged person is the highlight. There did feel a homosexual tinge in his acting, I wonder if that was also part of the story or not. The sets in t

Again, like the last time, I absolutely fell in love with the play but more so with the whole experience. I am sure the characters, the acting, the story and the music, all had a part to play in it, but I still think the amazing setting in the open air in a park was the main reason I had an absolutely amazing experience. The story was the same as the movie, Sound of Music; the songs were the same, the ones we have heard from childhood. The stage was set in the facade of an old country home. And the singing was clear, the dancing fun, the flow smooth. And the open air, setting sun and warm weather providing a natural background. What was not to love about this amazing production? I was not a fan of the lead actress who played Maria though; she looked older than she was supposed to be and was louder than she was supposed to be. But so what? The cute children made up for it:). The movie is a timeless classic and the play did full justice to it. It was as fun and beautiful as someth

I have wanted to see a play in the open-air theatre in Regents Park since 2006 but somehow had never managed to find tickets earlier. And so, when I was able to get last minute tickets from a colleague in office to see, 'To kill a mockingbird', at the Park, it was almost like a dream come true. And to be honest, the experience was all I had always imagined it to be.. and more..! First about the setting: the play is staged in the middle of Regents Park, in Queen Mary's Gardens. The path leading to the theatre builds up to the experience; walking through beautifully landscaped gardens, moving along the green path laced with colourful flowers on both sides. It sets the mood for a warm and fresh evening, close to nature. And then you come to the theatre, its done up so beautifully, its almost feels christmasy. Cafes and coffee stalls everywhere, decorated with lights and surrounded by a green background. And then when you enter the theatre, its also in the open. Laid out

For a long time, I have been looking for comedy plays in West End, and looks like there are not many left which I haven't seen. So when someone mentioned One man two guvnors, I booked it as soon as I could. And I wasn't disappointed; we had a great afternoon, laughing a lot and all the time trying not to fall over laughing! Its the story of a ruffian, Francis in Brighton, who gets hired by two masters (or guvnors). One is a local goon, Roscoe but actually his twin sister (Rachel); and the other master is a murderer on the run, Stanley but actually Rachel's fiance. What follows is a comedy of errors with Francis trying to serve both masters simultaneously without getting confused or letting either know about the other. Francis played by Rufus (?) is a great actor, and holds his own on stage. He is a treat to watch; confused, witty and doing all kinds of antics on the stage (like pretending to fight with himself) with such a flair that it makes you laugh all the time, wonde

The TV series, Yes Prime Minister has been long appreciated by all who can enjoy British humour. But once you had watch the entire series, there wasn't anything new to look forward to. So when there was an on-stage production of Yes Prime Minister playing in London (at Trafalgar Studios), I was obviously keen to see what the latest version had to offer. Of course the fact that there are not too many comedy plays running at a time also limits the choice but still I was very excited about this one:). Anyways, first things first, I was suffering from jetlag, and so could not pay 100% attention to the play. Still I think I do remember the essence! The play centered around a country Kumranistan which was doing an oil deal with England for which England had to join the EU (which of course was kept hidden from the PM). On the way to signing the deal, multiple crazy developments keep coming up including the foreign minister of Kumranistan asking for an escort! Anyways many twists a

The Book of Mormons is a hilarious musical running on Broadway currently. This play is already a hit, the ticket waitlist runs for months! Somehow we managed to get tickets for it, after standing in a queue for two hours, but it was definitely worth it! The play traces the adventures of two Mormons, Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, who are sent to Uganda to convert the locals to Mormonism. What ensues is a riot of events, ups and downs, like encounters with the military General and so on, leading on to Elder Cunningham teaching a modified version of Mormonism to the locals to get them to convert. The jokes are hilarious and sometimes downright slapstick. But nowhere do they cross the line. And the play does end with a positive note, a religion is what solves the people's problems and helps them keep the faith. That's what's most important... The acting was good. The dances and songs well crafted. The story and dialogues funny. A true and fun entertainer, a must-watch

How to succeed.... is a musical comedy playing on Broadway currently and stars Daniel Radcliffe (or better known as Harry Potter) and John Larroquette in the major roles.  How to succeed is a spoof on the corporate world, where the protagonist uses a self help book on "how to succeed in business" to make his way up the corporate ladder. His methods are morally questionable, but following those he rises up from being a window-washer to the Chairman of the big World Wide Wickets company.  The tricks used by him include anything and everything, making the right contacts including with the secretaries of the bosses (;-) ), of getting your bosses fired to get their jobs, knowing inside information about people to use as and when required, of trying to find common links with the higher ups and so on... People in the office hate him or fear him and on the way, he ignores the one person who actually cares for him for what he is. The list of what he does is long, and no

The Merchant of Venice is the second Shakespeare play I have seen (after Comedy of Errors) and the first serious one for sure. And what a pleasure it has been!! Shakespearen plays have always intimidated me, I guess its the doubt whether I would understand the language and the nuances of his plays. And this one at least does not disappoint! There is a lot to explore, understand and think about in his creation. And its given me the confidence to go for more of his plays for sure! (Would always still read up the storyline before I see the play though!) The show that I saw had Al Pacino playing the role of Shylock. So he was one of the major reasons I went for this play, but when you come out of the show, its still the play that you remember more than just a star performing in it! The play revolves around a loan that a merchant in Venice, Antonio takes from a Jewish moneylender, Shylock for which he agrees to pay back a pound of his flesh if he forfeits the loan. Antonio is unable to

A play which had all the ingredients of being a top-notch enjoyable and entertaining play... However it turned out to be none of it in the end!! A really forgettable play to put it mildly... The background setting is of a motley group of people who stay in a slum near the Mahim Junction Station. Their lives, interactions, ups and downs, goods and bads.. The play takes you through it all. For the cast, you have the drunkard, the eunuch, the chai-wala, the phoolwali, the hero and the heroine, and the one who loves the heroine, the villain, the NRI MLA, the police inspector and his side-kick and so on... The whole cast of the overboard 70s is there on the stage, interacting with each other, mouthing loud dialogues, singing and dancing to the old songs at the right (and the wrong) moments, the villain creating a problem in the hero-heroine's life, the corruption, the power hunger, the non-secular events.. All you could expect in a pot boiler of the 70s and more... Doesn't it s

Saw a hindi comedy play called 'Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaante' a couple of weeks back and quite a different (if not great) experience it was. Thankfully it was not another case of dysfunctional Indian families which most plays in Mumbai love to portray! This play actually looked like some of the 'natak' that used to come on Doordarshan in the late eighties, at least thats what it reminded me of:). The story is of a couple who are going through a financial crisis when they find an aunt's will, according to which the wife will get a large sum of money if the couple divorces. And then the comedy ensues:). There are multiple characters in the play, the couple, an uncle, the servant, 3 tenants, a friend plus boss and a couple of other smaller characters. The acting was enjoyable, though some characters overacted. The servant was a laugh riot with his weird accent, as well as the husband who acted well as the hen pecked spouse being forced to act out a divorce by his wife.

Broken Images is a short one-hour (and one-act) play with only one actor, Shabana Azmi. She has a double role though; one is the novelist, Manjula who is in a TV studio talking about her book written in English, while the other 'role' is her again (her alter-ego?) on the TV screen talking to Manjula and questioning her. The events of her life slowly open, as the alter-ego questions, discusses, argues and talks to Manjula, slowly and slowly bringing out facts about her own life, her sister on who's life the book is based, the events leading to her sister's death, the relationship between her sister and her husband, the breaking of her marriage and the eventual publishing of the book. Frankly, I found it another of those 'dysfunctional Indian families with multiple skeletons in their cupboards' kind of story which Indian play writers love to portray. An event gets all these skeletons out of the closet and everything thereafter changes. ... The actin

Recently saw this play at Prithvi which was a collection of six short plays written by famous playwrights. The range of themes was good, varying from the highly funny and over-the top to a nerve-raising one and from emotional drama to a social statement. The acting was top of the class and the entire experience was as one of the better plays I have watched. On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco Its a one person act of a husband giving a public lecture on 'the harmful effects of tobacco' at the insistence of his wife. He however veers onto himself, talking about his own failures and his unhappy life with his wife and children. It was well acted and you feel for the husband, but personally I found it too sad to like it. Seduction Peter the expert "married-women-seducer" is lecturing the audience about the methods he uses for his conquests. Quite an innovative method he uses! Plus he shows a live demonstration also of how successfully it wor

The reviews for this play were not great to start with, from "mediocre" to "very bad". And that's what it turned out to be too! The story is too 'ghisipiti' with two people who meet over the years but never get together. The dialogues too high and mighty types, the characters too loud and unreal. The flow in the story was missing, the chemistry and connection with the crowd wasn't there, so essentially nothing to remember it by. The acting was good though, guess that was the only saving grace, the only thing which made the play watchable. A definite miss!

Another play by the same group as 'Hum Kahein, Aap Suney' , Ekjute of Nadira Babbar.. Quite different from the earlier plays have seen, must give it that. Its a play based on a 1400 years old script, and part of the play is in classical dance. Great acting by all, but the direction wasn't upto the mark, as well as the script lacked the tightness of a well crafted play. Both were too loose, could have been edited better and made more crisp. Then surely, this play based on an ancient Indian dance form would have been more interesting and loveable. Commendable effort still...

One of the best plays I have seen (and believe me, have seen a decent amount!).. Its a play based on the ancient art of storytelling, called 'Dastaan Goi'. The play has three characters, an uncle, a nephew and a Dastaan Goi teacher. The play details how the uncle uses the teacher's help to inspire his nephew to pursue Daastaan Goi, as an art. The high point of the play of course is when each of the characters in the play, tells a story each. Its mesmerising, how they are able to singlehandedly convey all the emotions, the scenes and the surroundings of the story, in so simple and subtle, yet powerful manner! You have to see it to believe it, you will be lost while watching it for sure! Go and watch it! It is directed by Nadira Zaheer Babbar, who also acts as the teacher. Anant Mahadevan is the uncle, while a new actor plays the nephew.