My dearly-departed paternal grandmother was born and raised an Anglo-Indian in Calcutta, her young life spent with war always brewing, either with the wider world, or the British occupation, before her father – a non-serving British Army brat whose forefathers had, for five generations, faithfully served the Empire’s cause – forcefully declared one day, as all around them was destroyed by resistance fighting in the streets, that “these idiots can kill themselves if they please, but my family will have nothing to do with it”, and fled to England, where his family found themselves so helpless without their old servants that they could not so much as make a cup of tea by themselves.
My extended family on her side, in particular my great uncle, retain their distinctly dark brown skin tones. Her five children with her Franco-Italian husband are clearly ethnically mixed – but by the time of my brothers and I, all that remains are the stories she passed down to me. I often wonder at times how to reconcile myself with that erased biological history, with the bizarre colonial implications of its having been subsumed by European whiteness, and never to return to our bloodline. I do not want children. I feel great sorrow and pity for my forebears that this history of our family, along with all those stories of India, and of the Indian women that lived before my grandmother, may well die with me. I am drawn back across the tides of time to the Raj with the overpowering sense that the history of British India is my own family’s immediate history.
Adnan Kapadia stars. Credit: Robert Piwko
Martin Sherman’s theatrical adaptation of E.M. Forster’s classic novel serves as a timely reminder that the dynamics of human relations both within and across cultures and time periods are infinitely complex and delicate – and that our imperial history is far less clear-cut and rosy than many today may be inclined to remember it. When the magnanimous and friendly Indian Doctor Aziz (Rahul Singh) is accused of a terrible crime against an English woman, a terrible clash of cultures ensues, one in which the full ugliness of the evils of imperialism, colonialism, racism, and naked white supremacy is revealed.
Director Simona Hughes, together with an unusually large cast, brings a new adaptation to the Tower Theatre in Stoke Newington – one which may come to stand as one of the best, and most exquisitely beautiful, the company has ever produced, and which one is loathe to divulge too much detail on for fear of spoiling a wonderful experience. This is an absolutely gorgeous production, with Max Batty’s picturesque, dynamic set front and centre in the proceedings, making excellent use of the Tower’s stage throughout. Stephen Ley’s beautiful lighting sets the tone perfectly, and this play in particular pushes the boundaries of anything the company has previously attempted in their space with the use of evocative light and shadow.
Credit: Robert Piwko
Costume designers Sue Carling and Elion Mittiga have perfected the era’s sartorial sensibilities, with every member of the cast superbly dressed, and the triple-threat of sound designer Rob Hebblethwaite, soundtrack composer Tamara Douglas-Morris, and live musicians Mahesh Parkar, Devina Vekaria, and Amiya Bhatia creating an immersive, authentic soundscape of time and place wonderfully steeped in lyrical mysticism. Things move along at a gripping, pacey clip with Hughes’ tight direction, which doesn’t forget when to slow down, nor how to pace these slower moments, resulting in an almost pitch-perfect runtime. Above all, Sherman’s writing sparkles as much as ever, beautifully composed, with so much of it still retaining all of its power to shock and to sober, and to reverberate through to our modern age.
So, too, does this adaptation showcase a huge number of superb, memorable performances from its huge – and hugely talented – cast of 17. Lead Rahul Singh brings Dr. Aziz to vivid life, brimming with infectious, vivacious joy and energy as well as beautifully portraying the aftermath of the terrible accusations against him. South Asian Theatre veteran Adnan Kapadia as Professor Narayan Godbole makes for a wonderfully expressive and evocative narrator of events, and Alison Liney turns in a particularly moving performance as Mrs. Moore, very much the work’s moral centre. Meanwhile, Rebecca Allan is compelling as the conflicted and complex Adela Quested, Simon Lee convinces as the brave and dignified, though very much flawed would-be white saviour Cyril Fielding, and Robin Taylor makes a superb Tower debut performance as the hateful villain of the piece, Ronny Heaslop. So, too, does Paul Willcocks get his turn as a detestable bad sort with a memorable performance as the cruel and conniving McBryde.
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