PURSUED
BY
A
BEAR
PRODUCTIONS,
IN
CO-PRODUCTION
WITH
KALI
THEATRE
AND
IN
ASSOCIATION
WITH
THE
MERCURY
THEATRE
at
the Mercury Theatre Studio, Colchester
09.11.2012
"Kabaddi,
sport
of
our
forefathers."
This
new
piece
by
Satinder
Chohan,
developed
last
year
in
Bracknell,
premiered
this
week
in
Colchester
before
touring,
explores
themes
of
identity,
rivalry
and
betrayal,
using
the
fast-moving
and
unbelievably
physical
Indian
game
as
a
central
dramatic
metaphor.
[Though
it's
a
real
sport
now,
we're
told
– "betting,
steroids,
match
fixing"
it's
not
included in
the
London
Olympics.]
The
first
act
unfolds
in
Stratford,
scaffolding
in
a
corner
of
the
Olympic
park.
Shera
is
a
wide-boy,
British
Indian,
skilled
at
wheeling
and
dealing,
and
making
money.
Some
of
it
by
offering
a
shed
and
a
job
to
"freshies"
newly
arrived
in
the
UK
from
their
Punjabi
villages,
fresh
off
the
boat
or
the
lorry.
One
such
is
Eshwar,
his
muscle
memory
fading
fast,
reluctant
to
play
for
Club
UK.
Another
is
Azadeh,
a
frightened
fugitive
in
a
white
shalwar
kameez,
her
first
entrance
powerfully
suggesting
her
palpable
paranoia.
She
longs
to
return
home,
the
price
of
her
papers,
Eshwar's
joining
the
British
team.
All
three
players
have
a
past.
Shera
has
dug
up
his
great-grandfather's
gold
medal
from
the
1936
Berlin
Games.
Eshwar
has
only
a
posthumous
medal
awarded
by
the
Crown
to
his
Sepoy
ancestor.
There's
a
crucial
timeslip
moment,
and
after
the
interval
we're
back
in
the
Punjab
in
1936,
the
flags
of
all
nations
replaced
by
ragged
home-made
pennants.
Fauji
[Khan]
wears
the
"threads
of
Empire"
[shorts
made
in
Manchester]
and
eventually
takes
the
King's
shilling.
Pavan
[Chani]
cheats
his
way
to
Berlin
and
a
gold
medal,
and
longs
for
Azadeh
to
convert
so
that
they
may
marry.
She's
a
freedom
fighter,
a
"nationalist
heroine",
ready
with
her
suicide
bomb
and
her
Communist
ideals.
She
breathlessly,
beautifully
gives
a
commentary
on
the
Indian
victory
over
the
Germans
in
the
hockey
final,
but,
reluctantly,
accepts
the
gift
of
a
swastika
that
Pavan
brings
back.
The
three
actors
give
impressive,
compelling
performances
in
this
small,
warm
space.
Pushpinder
Chani
is
a
charismatic
Shera,
Asif
Khan
a
vulnerable,
stobborn
Eshwar.
And
Shalini
Peiris
doubles
superby
as
the
two
Azadehs,
both
strong
in
their
way,
both
able
to
see
beyond
the
here
and
now.
Helena
Bell's
production,
evocatively
lit
by
Mark
Dymock,
with
a
haunting
soundtrack
by
Arun
Ghosh,
magnificently
manages
the
blend
of
sport
and
war,
raiders
and
defenders
fighting
it
out
over
a
chapati-flour
frontier
in
the
Akhara,
as
the
ghosts
swirl
up
in
dreams
of
red
dust.
this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews
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