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Flawless acting
“The President is Coming” raises one question above all else: Why should India’s six best young achievers be portrayed as utter nincompoops? They are either bigots, fanatics, bimbettes, womanisers, avaricious mercenaries or America-obsessed sycophants. In a vaguely disillusioning process by Q Theatre Productions, the play informs us that the state of India is deplorable not because of the reasons we have all heard over and over again but because of the selfish, narrow-minded attitudes and idiosyncrasies of what we’ve always considered India’s best resource — the people. In fact, the play suggests that if the cream of the crop is so despicable, then the rest of India must be in a sad state indeed.
It was a well-done production, flowing seamlessly and artistically. It was carried out with great panache, especially the quick profile and spot lights, the interior monologues and the general spacing. It had excellent dramatic structure, particularly in terms of dialogue and conversation. The sets were simple and the use of a scrim with a corresponding video projection for scenes in the inner office was innovative. The acting was flawless — each actor was precise in his own caricature, complete with accent and body language. The stereotypes tended to be a bit unnerving though. The humour was well-thought-out and the actors’ comic timing was spot-on. The audience lapped up the region-specific jibes, laughing uproariously at both the slapstick and the cultural references. Yet it is the representation of Indian youth as small-minded and even foolish that I take offence to.
Manasi Subramaniam
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