“It has been a long time since Chennai has had a good comedy,” says Tehzeeb Katari, who has directed Relatively Speaking, and is hoping audiences will laugh along and have as much fun watching the play as the cast has had performing it.
Originally written by Alan Ayckbourn, Relatively Speaking is a comedy of confusion, with sparkling dialogue, presented by the Madras Players and Chennai Art Theatre.
“This delightful play is about two couples in a tangled web of mistaken identities!” says Tehzeeb, adding, “Even in the final scene, at least three of the cast of four, do not seem to have a clear idea of the exact relationships of the others!”
The four characters are played by Yohan Chacko, Shaan Katari Libby, Sarvesh Sridhar and Ameera D’costa (in order of appearance). “I have watched these actors through the years and they have brought out the characters so beautifully. The play is not harsh and vicious, rather sweet and very well handled, and the actors have done total justice to the roles,” she adds.
The play, that employs clever word-play, shows us that laughter can be conjured up out of marital confusion, with a bit of good, clean fun in which nobody gets hurt!
The back story around how Relatively Speaking ended up on a Chennai stage is rather interesting. The director shares, “A few years ago, one of our committee members (of the Madras Players), brought this book down from London. He had seen the play and he thought I should be in it, and work with it. Then, of course, a lot of things happened, including Covid, and theatre was not something that people did much or went to. So, the idea was shelved. Eventually, when we were thinking of doing a play, we decided to do a comedy, because everybody needed a good laugh; life has been so depressing, you keep hearing dreadful stories, so we thought comedy is what we should do. I went through several plays and then I chanced upon this one. I loved it; it’s so delightful.”
A very witty play with humour in every other line, Tehzeeb, says she has avoided using any other device to exaggerate the comedy other than word play, “We tried not to make it slapstick, because I really think the word play works well. So, it’s not deadpan, but it’s not slapstick either.”
Tickets at Rs 499 & Rs 799.
September 1 & 2, 7.15 pm.
September 3, 6 pm.
At the M S Subbulakshmi Auditorium, Asian College of Journalism, Taramani.
Email: rupam@newindianexpress.com
Twitter: @rupsjain
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