Ignore the intermittent bouts of mindless laughter, which seem like a nervous tic for some twenty something youngsters in the audience these days, and this one hour ten minute production, fresh from the Akvarious factory (the turnover of their productions for the Indian English stage in the past few years has been remarkable), will keep you reasonably hooked for its duo act by Ali Fazal and Neil Bhoopalam.
New York based Michael Puzzo's 'sensitive' and comic approach to the social construct of the alpha male is funny in parts, but not greatly dazzling. The stage is however set for Mitch (Neil Bhoopalam) and Lino (Ali Fazal) in a cabin like lodging in the mountains, cut off from the world, because of a bad storm.
As Lino's feminine sensitivity counter attacks Mitch's aggressive maleness, both men reveal bits of their lives. Mitch is coping with a recent divorce, whereas Lino makes a living off the internet, in one of those countless chatrooms by masquerading as the cliched prototype of a sexually desirable and available woman with big breasts.
The characters in opposition; Lino undoubtedly playing the conscience keeper in this guy thing, seems interesting enough to begin with but veers towards the obvious. The obvious being that guys could do with some reckoning of their masculine attitudes. It appears that Puzzo considers society to be largely responsible for the image that men need to live up to. But biology has a vital role to play too.
Puzzo underplays this and falls for a more simplistic approach given the play's genre, but he does have an insight here and there as when Mitch recalls of how he pretended to be different with his wife in bed, when he would have preferred things otherwise. And of how it was one of the many 'small things' that went wrong in his relationship. The original is actually called THE DIRTY TALK, and it's not clear if the script has been edited.
The built-up to the two characters is however taut, and Akarsh Kurana's direction ensures that the characters off set each other's personalities well enough. Both Neil Bhoopalam and Ali Fazal are fine, young actors. Neil's Mitch is like your regular guy next door, handicapped by his testosterone. Lino appears the tougher character to pull off, but Ali Fazal manages a decent act of being the man who he is without playing to the gallery as decidedly effeminate.
The stage design re-creates an isolated hunting cabin's ambience, and the three hanging lights have a nice touch as they flicker on and off a couple of times. Prepare to be suitably entertained; the humour is unmistakable and on mark, but all of it is a little too familiar, if not outdated.
