American film director, screenwriter and playwright Neil LaBute seems to have found resonance on the English stage in Mumbai. Of late there have been three productions of his plays by three different groups. Last year there was Akvarious Productions' THE SHAPE OF THINGS, then early this year THE MERCY SEAT was produced by Studio Three, and now Q Theatre Productions (QTP) has produced Akarsh Khurana's Indian adaptation of SOME GIRLS(S).
Directed by Nadir Khan, the production comes across as a light-hearted comedy in which a man about to be married decides to pay his past girlfriends a visit. Man (Mukul Chadda) has a personal as well as an interest driven professional angle in wanting to do so. But emotions are at stake. In desiring to set right the wrong that the man feels he might have done by moving away from his various relationships, or in simply wanting to re-visit his past before making that big commitment, he ends up perhaps more aware but still just as unsure.
Going by the three productions, LaBute's plays, each very different from the other, are about relationships, art, individuality, and human foibles such as self-centredness, however great the catastrophe enfolding outside one's window might be. Apart from THE SHAPE OF THINGS, the other two plays are also about men who look out for themsevles first. The idea that men can be more selfish, brash, unaccountable, irresponsible and eternally boys, is apparently a cornerstone of a lot of LaBute's work, starting with his controversial play and later film In the Company of Men (1993/1997).
SOME GIRL(S) in comparison to THE MERCY SEAT and THE SHAPE OF THINGS is far more relaxed and congenial even as the man comes to be labelled as an "emotional terrorist" whom we might not particulary feel sympathy for when we come to know that his selection of his once upon a time girlfriends is purely random. But the man has it coming, especially when he meets his one time boss's wife whom he slept with and his university sweetheart.
Akarsh Khurana's adaptation is simply about giving the characters and the locales Indian names more than anything else since the play can easily find its global, urban context just about anywhere in the world today. The play is set in various hotel rooms and beyond a point they are anonymous but ambient enough, thanks to Arghya Lahiri's light design. The background music is non-intrusive as it should be but not as characterless as elevator music either.
Nadir Khan's direction focusses on the dialogue and movement is kept to the minimum. Mukul Chadda's man comes across as mature, understanding and successful, except towards the end, and one wonders if the character is actually meant to be so contained. Shivani Tanksale as the man's college sweetheart is apt in her role. Newcomers Tarana Raja Kapoor and Juhi Pande are fairly good in their first roles on the professional stage although Juhi Pande needs to work on her voice as she is not clearly heard. Radhika Mittal as the older, married woman does a fittting job.
Illuminating lines can be found in Neil LaBute's plays and there is dark substance lurking even with the comic effect. Perhaps the only complaint one could have with a production like this, is that the comedy overpowers any subtelty and irony that might be there.
*The writer is Editor of this site, a theatre critic and an academic keenly interested in Theatre & Performance Studies.
