UNDOUBTEDLY ENTERTAINING !!!!
Have been writing reviews on movies for almost a decade now,and hence thought I must pen down my views on plays too. ACTORS ,( Amateur Creative Talents On Repertory Shows) recently staged Unfaithfully Yours,a two act comedy,at Lucknow.
Watching it was a double treat,firstly because I was watching an English play in Lucknow after almost three decades,and secondly because the play was beautifully staged.
The story of the play revolves around Jack Smith,who secretly has two wives and manages to keep two families,with a daughter and a son from each wife.The kids meet on the internet and want to meet personally,more so,since they find that the description of their dad,matched identically.The plot is created as to how jack,along ith his lodger friend Sam,tries to prevent the kids from meeting.In this confusion lands up,Sam’s dad,to complicate the scenario.Even though Jack and Sam, with great difficulty ,successfully manage to keep the kids apart,the two wives inevitably meet .And while Jack and Smith,struggle to explain the embarrassing situation,they are shocked by the wives,who declare that they have known the secret,all along,and were keeping mum,since Jack was at his best at both ends,and the ladies wanted to continue the fun!
Though a simple plot,it was difficult to execute,as the action in the living rooms of both the houses was played on the same stage setting and often,simultaneously at the two houses,with inhabitants of each home being oblivious of the presence of the others.
All the actors did justice to their roles but would specially like to compliment Zahur Zaidi who was brilliantly superb in the role of Jack.In spite of having the toughest role,he sailed smoothly,thanks to his histrionic abilities and amazing familiarity with contemporize stage acting.His dialogue delivery was effortless,expressions natural and actions impactful.Carlyle McFarland,playing Sam,once again showed his versatility and succeeded in putting life in the role he played and in making the audience laugh their guts out with him.Faisal Hussain was funny and aptly casted in the role of Sam’s father,and added spice to the confusion. Tazeen Husian and Varsha Choudhary,looked prettty as Jack’s two wives,and even though they stuck to the conventional theatre acting of school days,they played their roles well and smartly giving it the much needed glamour and glitter.Special mention to Varun Egbert and Samira Khan ,who played Jack’s son and daughter respectively,and did a great job,for their age,and displayed great potential for future.
The direction of Faisal Hussain had a total professional touch and was clearly evident through out the play.But above all,one thing that made the biggest impact and had the maximum contribution in the succes of the play,was the coordination and synchronization,which in the setting of the plot,was a Herculean task.The flawless and precise timing of the actions,entry,dialogue delivery and the sound effects,gave the play the fines of Hollywood editing.The stage setting and props provided by Raj Furnishings were tastefully assembled and gave a very realistic look.The sound and light effects were positively complimentary.
No review can be completed without the mention of the audience.It was a pleasure seeing the audience in the hall that day,which could match the stage lovers of Mumbai or Delhi,without a hitch.The enthusiasm and involvement from people of all ages was very obvious and what was most prominent was the fact that,Lucknow audience has become mature and sporting enough to not only accept,but also enjoy,sexy adult jokes on stage and even uncamoflauged display of gay relations
Overall it was a wonderful theatrical treat and look forward to similar production from ACTORs and other stage lovers in lucknow.
Dr Sanjay Kapoor Lucknow
The theme of Polygamy is sickening even in humour. Wonder how its glorification can be justified even in drama. The Actors and Directors could do better with their talents if they choose socially progressive issues rather than regressive ideas like polygamy. Best Wishes to all and hope they would agree.
The theme of polygamy is sickening even in humour. Wonder how its glorification can be justified even in drama. The Actors, Directors, Producers and the analysts could do better by putting their talents and time on socially progressive issues rather than on regressive ideas like polygamy. Best Wishes to all nonetheless with hopes that they give it a thought.
totally agree with you ashu………………..but then this is fiction……………..when one goes for entertainment,one is looking beyond life too………….to get away from the stress of life
………..lest we forget that Entertainment can be the most potent tool to convey a social message, instrumental in formation of public opinion on an issue, thus determining the acceptance or rejection of an idea in social circles. What appears to be only ‘harmless entertainment’, may in effect be giving tacit approval to a retrograde practice alive in the hearts of many a wanderer.