Sunday, August 2, 2009

Idiot for audience!

My first negative review!

Evam over the past few years has been in the news for their quality of entertainment, razor sharp wit and the unique approach to make a dying art form called theatre contemporary. “An Idiot for Dinner” adapted from the French movie ‘Le Diner De Cons’ which was also the inspiration for Bheja Fry is almost-funny but falls just short of the milieu which can be called humorous. The story is simple, Sanjay Khelavkar and his friends meet every week for a dinner where they invite an idiot and ridicule them and the host with the biggest idiot wins. R.Golden Gopu, is his prize catch one particular week and how Sanjay lands into a mess created by a bad back and Gopu’s idiosyncrasies. It eventually lands a tax inspector, Hari at his place. To make matters worse his wife, Aparna leaves him and how he eventually manages to come out of the mess created by the “idiot” with the help of his friend Sameer is the crux of the play.The subtle irony witnessed in Evam’s earlier production “The Odd Couple” or the easy characterization of “Doubles, Triples and Quadruplets” or even the adept adaptation of “Five point someone” is easily missing. The jokes appear tired, the sequences seem too forced and the humor lacks vigor. What could have been a laugh riot appears a thatched quilt using silk at places and wool at the remaining ones. Smooth at places, coarse at the edges because it lacks the punch. A few sequences are truly funny but those are neither backed by a strong script nor does it offer anything new to the un-amused patrons. The jokes at most times, seem ribald and trivial. For those unfortunate seated in the uncomfortable seats of Ravindra Bharati, the night seemed distinctly sore as it wore on.

3 comments:

sayrem said...

negative reviews, for some particular reason, refuse to come to me nowadays.
i wonder why.

Princess said...

whoa!

workhard said...

Very critical analysis...

Work from home