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A modern day fairy tale?
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Q Theatre Production's telling of this story was glossy, fast-paced and professional
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PHOTO: S. R. RAGHUNATHAN
PROFOUND OBSERVATIONS ON LIFE A scene from "Beyond Therapy"
Boy meets girl. Girl dislikes boy. They fight, and part. And this is where the story starts getting complicated.
He runs into the furry arms of his kooky therapist's Snoopy toy dog to cry. She sleeps with her therapist. He has a jealous male lover. She ended her last relationship because her boyfriend was allergic to her cats. The sulky male lover has a fling with a hunky waiter. The therapists eat too much chocolate mousse and go to the disco to work it all off.
Everyone desperately needs help. And therapy doesn't seem to be working - particularly for the therapists.
Yet, they get on with life and falling in love, bravely doing their utmost to live happily. Even if `ever after' may be asking for too much in their warped world.
"Beyond Therapy" could be a modern day fairy tale.
It is after all about the search for `The One.' And love. And fighting dragons for a shot at happiness. Q Theatre Production's telling of this story was glossy, fast-paced and professional. The story itself was rather simple, what made it so interesting were all the side lanes and diversions the actors took en route to their destination: any excuse for a joke or clever line, doses of slapstick humour and random philosophising.
Seemingly flippant and irreverent, "Beyond Therapy" also made ostensibly profound observations on life, and the web of relationships it comprises. As flaky therapist Dr. Wallace (Radhika da Cunha) states, "It's all how you look at it. If you take psychological suffering in the right frame of mind, you can find the humour in it... "
The cast and direction were largely responsible for the success of the play, which had the audience following the dialogue like bloodhounds, chuckling delightedly at most of the jokes. One problem, though, was that some of the humour was very dated, revolving around the likes of Betsy Drake (probably Betsy Who? to the contemporary audience they're evidently targeting, considering the outrageous jokes and adult humour) and the old-fashioned, stereotypical depiction of homosexuals.
Bob, played by an admittedly hilarious Rohit Malkan, has exaggerated hand gestures, a perpetual pout and a red satin dressing gown and the delightfully languid Lothario waiter (Neil Bhoopalan) is so touchy-feely it's almost embarrassing.
Although the writing is intelligent, this is also a script that can go terribly wrong if the characters aren't etched out properly, or the delivery falls flat. For, comic timing is everything here, followed closely by well-rounded, over-the-top characterisation.
The main couple Bruce (Zafar Karachiwala) and Prudence (Shanayya Rafaat) took a little while to warm up, possibly because the story accelerates dramatically right in the beginning, keeping up its breathless pace till the end. While this meant that "Beyond Therapy" rarely got a chance to pause, or sag, it also meant the actors barely got a chance to breathe, resulting in some of them tripping over words in their rushed dialogues, and quick movements across the stage.
Nevertheless, thanks to evidently frequent rehearsals and the many stagings of the show (this was their 25th and final show) they were — for the most part — confident, relaxed in their roles and comfortably caricaturing their characters.
Stylish frills
The slickness of the production helped. Structured like an American sit-com, it wove in stylish frills: music between scenes, frequent costume changes and carefully structured colourful sets.
Therapists Dr. Wallace and Stuart (Channel (V) VJ turned actor Ranvir Shorey) were clearly the best part of the evening, interpreting their characters by gleefully indulging in an excess of everything: overplayed body language, animated expressions and bounding energy. He's an overtly masculine chauvinist bully with issues, who strides about fidgeting with his stress ball and calling his patients "babe." She's sweet and eccentric, jingling her bead chains and occasionally making startling clear-headed statements on modern life and love.
In fact, it is Dr. Wallace who finally sums up the crux of the play. "We're all alone, everyone's crazy and you have no choice but to be alone or to be with someone in what will be a highly imperfect and probably eventually unsatisfactory relationship."
The play was staged as part of The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Festival at The Music Academy on August 14
SHONALI MUTHALALY
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