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London Review
London ReviewA Fine Balance
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There is always hope - enough to balance our despair. Or we would be lost.
---- Mr Valmik in the novel A Fine Balance
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Divian Ladwa as Shankar
(Photo: Robert Day) |
Set in 1970s India, the story follows four main figures. Dina (Sudha Buchar) is a beautiful widow who is determined not to lose her independence to her overbearing brother. In order to scrape self-sufficiency, she takes in a paying guest. Student Maneck (Divian Ladwa) is well-to-do and innocent, but feels alienated from his home. Dina also sets up a mini-factory in her tiny flat to complete sewing orders. She employs two tailors, Ishvar (Rehan Sheikh) and his lanky nephew Om (Amit Sharma). They dream of making a fortune in the city before returning to their village, where their family had tragically attempted to break free from untouchable status and the small-minded, inflexible values.
Male and female, Hindu and Muslim, respectable and destitute, these central, miscellaneous four are evidence of the narrative's scope, but are also joined by a host of others. These include the legless beggar Shankar or Worm (Divian Ladwa), the powerful Beggarmaster (Shiv Grewal), the hair-collecting Rajaram (Narinder Samra) and the Monkey Man (Shiv Grewal) who survives off his beloved performing animals. Meanwhile, there is a powerful political backdrop which disrupts their lives and threatens their precarious survival. We see the effects of the "State of Internal Emergency" under the auspices of Indira Gandhi, like enforced sterilisation and slum clearance. These abuses of human rights jar sharply with the story's compassion for the underprivileged individuals, the targets of the draconian policies.
The acting is particularly strong, with a vivid, perceptive sense of the characters. Sudha Buchar gives an understated but subtly revealing performance which provides a sense of the novel's intricate emotional particularity. With a cast of just eight, the actors display fantastic versatility. In particular, Shiv Grewal distinguishes with ease the hard-nosed but soft-hearted Beggarmaster, and the Monkey Man whose love turns into crazed, murderous grief.
This has to be due to Tamasha's creative process, developing the adaptation and characterisation during rehearsals. In this way, the whole cast was involved in exploring ways to express some of Mistry's unforgettable images. The puppets are extremely well-done, in a simple yet naturalistic way. The flea-ridden dog has canine, tentative movements, while the monkey manages to seem like a primate imitating a human.
However, the artistic advantages of this method is at the cost of the narrative. Without a writer to adapt the book for the stage, the play can do little more than give a rough-edged impression of a story which is at once detailed and sweeping. For members of the audience who have not read the book, the plot can seem confusing and slightly incoherent. Tamasha perhaps would have benefited from a Shared Experience director and their proven record of successfully translating classic novels onto the stage. It would have been an immense bonus to this production to enjoy this style of dramatic innovation which eclipses the difficulties involved in reworking the written word into the spoken. Nevertheless, this was an incredibly ambitious project and Tamasha are a force for good in the theatrical world which is still far too elitist. With superb acting and poignant stories, A Fine Balance is a moving and absorbing production.
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A FINE BALANCE
Written by Rohinton Mistry Adpated by Tamasha Directed by Kristine Landon-Smith With: Sagar Arya, Sudha Buchar, Shiv Grewal, Divian Ladwa, Narinder Samra, Amit Sharma, Rehan Sheikh, Sameena Zehra Design: Sue Mayes Original Score: Felix Cross Lighting: Natasha Chivers Sound: Mike Furness Movement: Laurence Evans Puppetry: Lyndie Wright, Sarah Wright, Ronnie Le Drew Running time: Two hours 30 minutes with one interval Box Office: 020 7722 9301 Booking to 28th January 2006 Reviewed by Charlotte Loveridge based on 16th January 2006 performance Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London, NW3 3EU (Tube: Swiss Cottage) |
