Tax rebates and returns are magical words. Ask any working individual who is looking for ways to reduce their liability. “And what better time to perform a play on tax fraud and investigation than around tax filing time,” says director Chanda Khaturia with a laugh, while talking about her adaptation of Billy Van Zandt’s classical farce Love, Sex and the IRS. Returning to the stage with a 120-minute play, Love, Sex and the Taxman marks Coimbatore Arts and Theatre Society’s (CATS) first full-length play of 2018 after a spate of supper theatre shows. “Supper theatre was aimed at rekindling an interest for theatre in the city...an experiment that has had good returns. We are extending our experiments in theatre with this full-length play.”
Identity crisis
The script, which has been adapted for an Indian audience and edited into a two-act play instead of the original three-acts, tells the story of Sanju Sagar and Kiran Banerjee who are out-of-work musicians and
stay together in Mumbai. Struggling to make ends meet, Sanju has been filing tax returns listing the pair as married. Things get out of hand when the tax department decides to audit the ‘couple’, just as Sanju’s mother comes to Mumbai to meet her son’s actual fiancee, Samaira. While the play is hinged on mistaken identities, lust and infidelity (turns out Kiran and Samaira are having an affair), it also deals with another topic of societal perceptions of LGBTQ. “Though it is the circumstance that has forced Kiran to masquerade as a housewife, it brings to the forefront, rather subtly, a topic of ongoing debate in the country.”
At long last
A slapstick comedy that originally is three hours, the 48-year-old director, Chanda tells us that she worked on the script for over three months to adapt it for an Indian audience. “We’ve been practising for the last six months,” she shares. An eight-member cast play, the performance will feature the familiar faces of Ramesh Chandran as the taxman, Sarumathi Gunachandran as Samaira and Somy Sridas as Kiran Banerjee. “Most of the actors have previously been part of our plays. Funnily enough, Somy had auditioned for a part earlier, which he did not get. While I was writing the character of Kiran in Love, Sex and the Taxman, it felt like I was writing the part for him and that is how he came to be part of this play.”
Debuting the production in the city, the play will make use of a minimal set and will be presented in two acts of 60-minutes each with a short interval of 10 minutes between.
Rs 850 (inclusive of lunch). At The Residency Towers. On July 22. At noon.
Pics: A Raja Chidambaram