A FARMING STORY play review , English play review

	Direction : Faezeh Jalali Writer : Vineet Bhalla Cast : Meher Acharia Dar, Suruchi Aulakh, Dilnaz Irani, Reshma Shetty, Abhishek Saha & others
A FARMING STORY Play Review

Dr. Omkar Bhatkar	Host-A-Performance \| Schedule

A FARMING STORY Review

A FARMING STORY by Vineet Bhalla was the winner of the Sultan Padamsee Playwriting Award 2016. Directed by Faezeh Jalali, the play runs for 1 hour 45 mins with a cast of almost 20 people on stage dressed in strange clothes. This is a dystopian society living in severe times of a famine.

A small community of 'Hummals' (human animals) is struggling to survive after environmental conditions have resulted in repeated crop failures. In brief, the play is a fight between the human, Ms. Brand (the name itself symbolic to giant corporations) and hummals (a blend of human and animal) and their right to the village. Ms. Brand rules over the hummals. The hummals are seduced by the power of her estate and participate in the subjugation without being aware of the consequences. This main plot has smaller embedded stories of love and deceit.

The narrative is long-winded and few actors are convincing in their roles as the 'hummals'. The play has made a well-meaning attempt to talk about powerful corporations, mass migration, poverty, famine... pressing issues that face us today. But the realisation of these themes through the play's dystopian lens and stylisation is patchy. The famine in the play can therefore not be actually felt. Also, the last scene which could have been poignant just slips through in a matter of seconds from the left wing to the right without evoking any pain or remorse.

Somehow the writing does not seem to fall in place, especially with the climatic scene. The mysterious new land on the other side of the world never comes across as mysterious but just another land and another lake to cross.

The use of lights is simple; however, the lights could have been used more effectively. The mango wood set works in favour of the play only if the actors are careful about property on stage, scattered at most places, especially in the dining scene. The costumes can be said to be novel in their design but don't entirely emphasise the characterisation.

Ms. Brand (Dilnaz Irani) however came across as a well sketched character in the play, be it in her attire, her dialogue delivery, and her stage presence. Also, she had the clearest tone in the show followed by Samantha (Suruchi Aulakh) and Rita (Meher Acharia Dar)

The play is reminiscent of George Orwell's famous novella Animal Farm (1945). It is impossible to miss the similarities. This play then largely comes across as an attempt to relocate and reimagine Orwell's allegorical fable that continues to be relevant as ever.

*Dr. Omkar Bhatkar teaches at the Department of Mass Media Studies at St. Andrews College. He runs the eclectic St Andrew's Centre For Philosophy and Performing Arts. He is also a theatre director, poet and painter.

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A FARMING STORY Play Review

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