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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Lingering Voices
Verdict: Interesting play
Edinburgh 04 -
Sweet - 13.30 (45 min) 16-29 Aug 04
Lingering Voices focuses on a married couple in India resisting the modernisation of their village - and their lives. It runs just under the hour, with a cast of 5.
Sita and her husband Arun are the last couple left in a village that's being overrun with construction. Their family, friends, and way of life have gone. Their relationship is strained by their lone fight to remain.
Arun recalls seeing Sita laugh and smile when they first met. Sita remembers herself as an independent woman, selecting her own future. They choose to marry each other, as like souls, regardless of parental decision. But both choose and cherish the life of the village - dependent upon the whims of earth and elements - whilst their families sell land and depart.
The lure of the city is characterised by Bhaskar, a rival suitor for Sita. A clever scene reflecting the Garden of Eden, complete with twittering bird sound-track, has Bhaskar trying to tempt Sita with the lure of city life - while Arun urges her to stay true to the past.
The play looks at the opposing pulls of past manners and conventions, and the reality of 'progress'.
Lingering Voices takes nuances from Samuel Beckett, and Jean-Paul Satre's existentialism, but fortunately not too many. When the introspection - and the shouting that inevitably goes with 50s theatre - clears, there are some lively and occasionally poignant flashbacks to the past.
Shefali Verma delivers Sita with feeling and strength. Samrat Chakrabarti gives Arun vigour and humour. Vik Sivinlingam provides Bhaskar with engagingly oily guile. Michele Ahlin and Nicolas Haque give a sinister edge as enforcers of the present.
Writer Saman Shad's script, with some fine moments, could stand a further draft. Direction, by Lucy Linger, produces a generally interesting play.
Cast Credits (alpha order):
Samrat Chakrabarti - Arun. Vik Sivinlingam - Bhaskar. Shefali Verma - Sita. Guards: Michele Ahlin, Nicolas Haque.
Company Credits: Writer - Saman Shad. Director - Lucy Linger. Producer - Matt Sharpe. Technical - Sputnik Productions. Company - Chand Aur Sitara Productions. Tonight: The Nehru Centre: Director - Mr Pavan K Varma.
END
John Park
reviewed Tuesday 27 July 04 / The Nehru Centre
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
