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Easy way out

And Sunshine Follows The Rain was a disappointing play

Despite one's reservations about Tennessee Williams, one is rarely unwilling to watch plays written by one of the great American playwrights. Although Williams often seems dated and can appear melodramatic, his use of symbolism and depth of writing more than adequately nullifies the negatives. Which is why Moonoverstillwater's And Sunshine Follows The Rain was such a profound disappointment.

Written by Harry MacLure and directed by Rajiv Krishnan, the play attempts to transpose Williams's The Glass Menagerie into an Anglo-Indian context. The attempt came about because he was struck by the fact that several situations in the play paralleled that of an Anglo-Indian family. An interesting idea, but one that is unfortunately not achieved simply by replacing American references with names and places from Chennai. And so, what begins as an idea with potential in the spot-on imitation of the typical Anglo-Indian gent regaling his nephews with stories of the freedom struggle, soon starts to feel like an exact replica of the original play.

The audience is soon in for another unpleasant surprise, however, when one realises that And Sunshine... isn't an exact replica, but rather a poor impostor. Many of the most important symbols in the original play are absent here. The plot that remains here is hollow and superficial. It proceeds throughout the play, with MacLure repeatedly choosing the easy way out so that the ultimate product lacks the expression and emotion of the original; until the surprise twist, which changes the very end of the tale. Thoughts of travesty aside, the end is problematic because nothing in the rest of the play suggests the kind of change that one sees finally in Laura. But it isn't only the writing that is wrought with difficulties. The execution is also marred by the arbitrary use of two or more actors appearing simultaneously on stage for each character. Although this device begins well and is interesting to watch for a few minutes, it soon begins to grate as one realises that there is no reason for it to be used.

That the performers tend to overact, sending their characters into the realm of farce, doesn't help matters either. Although a few moments of good comic timing come through, most of the play is rather difficult to sit through. Perhaps the only saving grace of the play was the set design, all built and rebuilt by the actors themselves, using sundry parts pulled out of a trunk. Perhaps the only innovation that worked in a play filled with failed ideas.

And Sunshine Follows The Rain is being staged at 3.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. today and tomorrow at Ranga Shankara.

RAKESH MEHAR

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