Two things always seem to work in productions by Meherzad Patel's Silly Point Productions. His group of actors with whom he has been collaborating since he started in 2008, share a great chemistry, and Danesh Irani, one of his main actors, has an innate understanding of comic timing. So popular Danesh has become with his audiences that he is greeted by cheer and whistles as he makes his entry on stage. This is a considerable feat for a young actor associated with the 'experimental' English stage in Mumbai. In FOOLS, the group's latest play in collaboration with their new partner JT Performing Arts' Centre (JTPAC), Danesh is once again in his element.
Liberally adapted by Meherzad from the original play ROMANTIC FOOLS by American playwright Rich Orloff, this is a witty, atypical romantic comedy. Not all the two-character sketches are part of Meherzad's adaptation whose sexual content has also been toned down to avoid censorship.The original play is made up of a series of 12 unrelated sketches, introduced by their titles. In Meherzad's adaptation, the play retains its original form; however Meherzad has selected eight sketches and has attempted to interconnect them by an overarching story of a woman with two boyfriends. This approach is not entirely without its problems because it hampers both the continuity and seamlessness that would be expected. Besides the adaptation has to be seen independently of the original play, whose humour and insights might be received in a very different way.
Yet Meherzad's reading of the play conveys to a degree of success, the turbulence that man-woman relationships can hit. The comedy in these sketches makes them infinitely more interesting as that they take head on the eternal question of primal desire (read sex) v/s all other aspects of a compatible relationship, including the big question of marriage. In the opening short, Primitive Man, the carnal element is laid bare, and in a funny sequence that uses dumb charades, the primitive man and the modern woman attempt a conversation. Predictably, Danesh steals the show.
Other sketches follow. Sajeel Parekh, boyfriend no 2 appears in the piece titled Nightmare in a Sexy Skirt. He looks the part of the simple and fastidious character that is intended of him. By the time we reach the last sketch Bride and Gloom, the trio, Maanvi Gagroo (who plays the woman), Sajeel and Danesh have convinced us that relationships are indeed a tricky business, and we can relieve our anxieties by taking a light-hearted view of matters of the heart.
