Our verdict on Prayas’ Love n Stuff and Indian Ink’s The Elephant Thief

 

Love n Stuff

 

At the heart of Prayas’ first full-blown comedy is a popular Sandringham couple who have had a long and happy marriage until the husband decides to pack his bags and return to his Delhi. You are introduced to Bindi (Sudeepta Vyas) and Mansoor (Mustaq Missouri) at a frail point of their lives where we see a wife's last attempt to stop her husband of 35 years from going back to his hometown. But her efforts (that start with a packet of bhajiiyas and tamarind and date chutney, which she refuses to share) are met with the ironclad decision of Mansoor who chooses to stay silent than justify his determination to go to India. What follows is 90 uninterrupted minutes of a warm-hearted and hilarious story directed by debutant Sananda Chatterjee.

 

The drama unfolds at the departure lounge in Auckland’s international airport—a scene that comes to life with Tim Booth’s sofa-laden set—where you meet an eccentric cast that includes an outspoken fitness fanatic (Anisha Bhattacharya), Akbar (Prateek Vadgaonker) who has left a fiancée back in India, and the wannabe gangsta Baggy (Pauras Rege), who hope to help Bindi get Mansoor home.

 

Flashes from the past reveal the triumphs and troubles of the couple and the back story of the play.

They take us to the days when the young couple (played by Divya Hariharan and Rishabh Kapoor) go on their first movie date, or when they meet the gloomy tourist guide to erotic art—a brilliant performance by Aman Bajaj—while on their honeymoon.  

 

Adapted from Bengali-English playwright Tanika Gupta’s script, which originally saw only two actors play 16 characters, Love n Stuff has been tweaked to include an ensemble cast and amusing local references of a multicultural Auckland.  

 

The Elephant Thief

 

The seventh production of Indian Ink sets out a vivid prediction of a ruined dystopian world. The year is 2066. Elephants are rare and at the brink of extinction and the ones that still walk on Earth are greedily hunted by humans.

 

Set in a futuristic grim India showcased through Stephen Bain and Sarah-Jane Blake’s beautiful set design of corrugated iron panels hanging from the roof, The Elephant Thief follows female Mahout (elephant keeper) Leela Devi, an adventurous young soul, who decides to leave her father in her isolated village and set out to explore the world. Her only guidance—a 50-year old inherited map that does not paint a true picture of the world, or what is left of it. As the story unfolds, she meets corrupt officials, black market organ dealers and country leaders who are bound to a capitalist economy.

 

Newcomer Vanessa Kumar brings her own charm to Leela Devi’s character, while former Shortland Street actor Nisha Madhan bewitches the audience through three important roles: jailer, Rani de Bourban and Prime Minister Sonia Ambhardi (look out for her penultimate speech as the PM). Her voice as Kali, the Hindu goddess of creation and destruction, echoes as it binds the spiritual journey of the story. Julia Croft wins over the audience with her charisma and complex character as the Russian-Indian detective Irina Sharma. The five-strong cast also includes enchanting performances delivered by Jonathan Price and Patrick Carroll.

 

Supporting the vibrancy and energy of the cast is David Ward’s evocative music that takes the story from light-humoured settings to intense moments. The story outlines the outcomes of the actions taken by humans who are often blinded by greed. Writers Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis present a thought-provoking epic that laughs at the silly and the serious, exploring difficult questions that trouble the world.