СBlack Coffee ProductionТ, a theatre group from Bangalore is in Mumbai with their production of Irvine WelshТs FILTH. Harry Gibson's third adaptation of an Irvine Welsh novel, is a one-man show that delves into the frightening every day life of Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson - the anti-hero of Gibson's adaptation and one of the vilest characters ever to hit the stage. More frightening yet, he's an invisible monster that walks among us. Over the course of a Christmas season, Robertson ruins the life of a colleague, battles an intestinal parasite, and bites out a guy's tongue. And this only scratches the surface of the sins, bloodshed and hate that find their expression in Gibson's uncompromising script. The play shifts from Robertson to his superiors to his wife to his enemies to his friends to the worm in his colon in a disturbing stream-of-consciousness style that evokes Robertson's evil.

The degradation of Detective Sergeant Robertson goes well beyond the physical, however. As Gibson taps into each of the 32 characters that live in Robertson's world and mind, we come to realize that this filthy cop is not just evil - he is certifiably mad thus internalizing this madness with a physical and mental energy that's humbling to witness.

FILTH is designed to make people uncomfortable - it is written to incite and challenge by raising complex questions about nature and nurture, madness and sanity, reality and hyper reality, malevolence and benevolence. But most of all it forces its audience into a confrontation with a hell that is invisible, but constantly present beneath the surface of our everyday lives.

Performed by Rajeev Ravindranathan.
Directed by Preetam Koilpillai.

Prithvi Theatre: 14th, 15th and 16th June 2006.
Time: 9:00 pm.