Chasing Hares
Sonali Bhattacharyya
Directed by Krishmeela Rittoo
Tower Theatre
Star rating 3
Bhattacharyya’s play depicts two generations of a family resisting exploitation first in Calcutta and then in London.
Prab (Sol Sarwar) is a sewing machine worker with a wife and baby and a talent for story-telling and play writing. His boss Devish (Salim Sharif), along with his girl friend Chellam (Vaishnavi CG), “befriends” him, shows interest in Prab’s play and finds him a better flat but of course, beneath the veneer he’s ruthless. Eventually Prab’s wife Kajol (Amirah Mannan) escapes to London leaving Prab to face whatever Devesh does to him. There’s a framing device whereby we first see Prab with his grown up daughter, Amba (Sadiyah Ahmed) and her own baby 20 years later in London and that’s also where the play ends and we realise … well, no spoilers. Enough to say that Amba is now fighting the shabby treatment of Indian workers in England, encouraged by her father’s example in Calcutta.
Director, Krishmeela Rittoo makes good use of Tower Theatre’s triangular playing space and Freya Alexander’s set combines a stage right office for Devesh and a crowded home – bed, sewing machine etc – for Prab at stage left. Much of the action takes place literally between the two worlds.
Salim Sharif, making his UK debut, after years of theatrical training and work in Oman and Mumbai, is outstanding as Devesh. He finds glittering charisma in this role which he inhabits with total conviction. I hope we see a lot more of his work very soon.
Also excellent is Vaishnavi CG. Hers is a role which develops from self interested flippancy to kind decency and she really makes us believe in Chellam who eventually rumbles Devesh for what he is, leaves him and helps Prab’s wife.
It’s a well crafted piece of theatre and it’s interesting to be taken to a world which is probably unfamiliar to most of the audience.
