“There is much to chew on for an audience. Nagle’s treatment of the material foregrounds the Indian occupation experience, creating atmosphere and setting without an extravagant design...”
“…the players delivering uniformly thoughtful performances…”
“Recommend”
– Veronica Hannon
3.5 stars
E. M. Forster, in exquisite prose, wrote about the clash of cultures in his 1924 novel A Passage to India. On the proscenium stage at Genesian, nearly 100 years later, a large, diverse cast in an adaptation by Martin Sherman with direction by Mark Nagle presents a take on the menace beneath the surface in a colonised subcontinent.
The plot ostensibly follows two middle-class Englishwomen, Mrs Moore, the mother of a colonial magistrate and Adela Quested, her prospective daughter in law. With the means and leisure time to travel, they visit the fictional Chandrapore, a backwater notable only for its proximity to some extraordinary caves. Both women are drawn to the local culture and open to making Indian friends thinking their curiosity about “the other” an innocent activity. They gain more insight into the internal workings of Indian society through Cyril Fielding, a white schoolmaster, and his closest friend, Dr Aziz. Then an invitation from the latter for the women to join him for a picnic and to explore the distant caves sets off a chain of events with severe ramifications for all concerned. As in Forster’s novel, this version also leaves open the question of what occurred, and in the wake of the Me Too movement, it is worth considering how quickly we come to the decision that nothing happened at all.
There is much to chew on for an audience. Nagle’s treatment of the material foregrounds the Indian occupation experience, creating atmosphere and setting without an extravagant design. While often a swirl of colours, the stage pictures are not just eye-candy but support the story’s dissection of relationships. The play makes a point of highlighting the powerful attraction and at the same time revulsion between people who exist side by side and even work together but are not equal when one group holds all the power.
Twenty actors fill the stage in this piece of episodic storytelling with numerous locations. Nagle and his team solve many of the inherent staging problems by the simplest of means. A particularly effective moment sees the company evoke an elephant ride by having the characters sitting atop a large canvas painted with the union jack that is animated by members of the cast.
While not all ran smoothly on opening night, it did not detract from the experience due to the players delivering uniformly thoughtful performances. In the four central roles, Susan Jordan (Mrs Moore), Christiane New (Adela Quested), Miles Boland (Cyril Fielding) and Atharv Kolhatkar (Dr Aziz) acquit themselves admirably. Kolhatkar is, in fact, something of a star in the making. His Dr Aziz is the beating heart of this production. The actor beautifully portrays the arc of the effusive, emotional doctor to hardened nationalist when his treatment at the hands of the British leads him to take a firm stand.
The final, somewhat sad, moments between Fielding and Dr Aziz see the characters walk away from each other, and you are left wondering if human beings can truly connect in a divided world. Having the entire ensemble then take to the stage in a joyous celebration with music and dancing went some way to restoring hope. Highly recommended.
Until 19 June 2021
Veronica Hannon, Theatre Now
Photos: Craig O’Regan
Event Details
