A gripping, moving true story from the slums of Mumbai brought spectacularly to life by playwright David Hare and director Rufus Norris at the National Theatre.
David Hare’s new play is the ambitious attempt to turn a
Pulitzer Prize winning reportage about life in a Mumbai slum into entertaining
theatre for London mainstream audiences.
My fear was that this excellent playwright would fail, as he had done in
his play about the 2008 world financial crisis, “The Power of Yes”. But I need not have worried: Behind the
Beautiful Forevers is engaging, entertaining and in Rufus Norris’ production
very watchable and at times truly spectacular.
Set in 2008 in the Annawadi slum neighbourhood, not far from
the ever expanding Mumbai airport, the play tells the story of the
slum-dwelling neighbourhood, making a meagre and risky living from collecting
rubbish, or being part of various government schemes to help the poor, or being
the go to person for fixing things with one other of India’s corrupt government
services. Hindu, Muslim and Christian,
in many respects their relationships with each other are not much different
from what they would be in middleclass neighbourhoods elsewhere in India or the
Western world. But their lives are precariously balanced; in that way they too
are not unlike the “Fiddlers on the Roof” whom Sholem Aleichem's Tevye the Milkman of Anatevka used as an analogy to describe his own people’s precarious existence. One small change, one wrong move and catastrophe can strike very
quickly. Watching the action, it is not difficult to identify or sympathise
with and dislike one or other of the characters.
A great merit of David Hare’s adaptation of Kathrine Boos book
is that it tells us the story of the changing fortunes of more or less
sympathetic characters in a thoroughly entertaining, sometimes funny, sometimes
moving way, without ever campaigning for the pitiable poor or lifting the
didactic index finger.
Bringing Annawadi to life on the Olivier Theatre stage is a
very talented ensemble with some outstanding individual performances, Shane
Zaza as Abdul, Anjana Vasun as Manju, Heyran Abesekura as Sunil). The
challenges of the set design, lighting sound and direction are enormous and
very successfully pulled off by the other creatives, notably designer Katrina
Lindsay and lighting designer Paule Constable.
The very enthusiastic applause from the packed audience at
the end of the performance last night was thoroughly deserved.
Now booking until 13 April 2015.
Now booking until 13 April 2015.
