As Bees in Honey Drown #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #TheatrePlayReview #Theatrewala

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #TheatrePlayReview #Theatrewala Johnson Thomas

Title: As Bees in Honey Drown Cast: Aditya Rawal, Shikha Talsania, Tavish Bhattacharya, Ashwin Mushran, Meher Acharia Dar, Chakori Dwivedi, Zeus Paranjpe Director: Anahita Uberoi Producer: Devika Shahani Playwright: Doughlas Carter Beane Indian Adaptation: Akarsh Khurana

#AadyamTheatre #TheDragonRoseProject #AdityaBirlaGroup #InterrobangCreative Light Design- Arghya Lahiri & Gurleen Judge Sound Design: Kaizad Gherda Sund Engineer: Varrunn Bangera Asst. Director: Rhea Amin Costume Design: Pallavi Patel Hair and Make-up : Anisa Uberoi Projection Design : Percival Crasto Production Manager: Spriha Nakhare Rating: * * * Runtime: 150 mins

Set in the contemporary world, this play adaptation by Akarsh Khurana from Doughlas Carter Beane’s original dark comedy about celebrity, is a glib, fast-talking work that mixes visual imagery, fast moving set-changes and fluid acting to convey it’s point. Beane in fact provides us with an intimate sketch of an age that chooses flash and dash over substance. There are largely two kinds of people in the world today - opportunistic people who flit through life taking advantage of others’ vulnerabilities and the other kind -their image-conscious victims who would rather die in shame than take action against the former.

But Dhruv aka Pratik Gandhi(Aditya Rawal), best-selling debut author of the thin tome ‘Beyond’ may not be willing to lie down and let Alexa walk all over him. Yes, Alexa ( Shikha Talsania), the popular socialite who has made the world of celebrity her home, and claims to be record producer and film agent and appears to have connections everywhere, does her flashy con act with him, gets him to loosen up his already depleted purse strings and eventually leaves him high and dry - with creditors gunning for his blood. Alexa’s super successful con act has had many victims (from the almost famous), before him. And they never bothered to avenge their humiliation because it would have dented the image they were trying to create for themselves. Dhruv on the other hand, though admittedly Gay, ended up in a passionate sexual relationship with Alexa and bleeding with raw hurt after Alexa’s sudden inexplicable disappearance, decides to go after her with all guns blazing. How he does it is the interesting part.

Directed by Anahita Uberoi, the play sets up an interesting course to the main con and gradually reveals the many connections that would eventually allow Dhruv to wreak revenge on Alexa. But there are very few surprises here. It’s pretty easy to guess Alexa’s intent right from the moment she latches on to a nondescript writer whose thin best-seller has made him prime meat for her kill. While the overall story is interesting and the satirical elements are brought out with panache, there’s very little nuance or subtlety in the character sketches. So everything is pretty much obvious form the first few minutes itself. Akarsh Khurana has done a good job contextualizing the play to present day Mumbai. The original play was written in the 90’s so contextualizing it to the present day social media dominated world would have been fairly challenging. This enactment of Beane’s modern moarality tale delineates perceived success as the current most pre-eminent dimension of success and also red-flags deceit, betrayal, artistic or any kind of ambition and power of illusion as corollaries to being conned. The Holy Grail of modern society: “fame without achievement” is the underlined trigger. Of course Shikha Talsania has her own delightful take on the pivotal character. Her fast-talking, ad-jibbing flattery of her potential victims, her wonderful enunciation of catch-phrases, and the sheer confidence in her ability to convince the unwary, makes her performance as Alexa noteworthy.

The first time best-selling novelist Dhruv as played by Aditya Rawal shows off gullibility, vulnerability and pain as accoutrements of a righteous revenge mindset. The writing is witty and brings on quite a few laughs. The supporting actors who perform multiple roles show off their confidence and skills with great verve. While much of the delectable dialogue swirls out from Alexa’s motor-mouth, we also get to enjoy several volleys of quips from the rest of the actors and revel in scenes that expose Alexa and lay out a method for her own victimisation. This is an enjoyable outing and it would have been even more so if some of the extensive monologues were cut into shorter, sharper repartee. Even so, with excellent spatial design, smart light and sound design and excellent projection design, this play has a lot more to offer other than its smart witticisms, directorial vision and personable performances.

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