No Dogs, No Indians

The world premiere of No Dogs, No Indians, written by Siddhartha Bose and directed by Russell Bender had real potential but was sadly unfinished and startlingly under-rehearsed. When the line fluff count comfortably extends into double figures you know something is amiss. One badminton sequence almost seemed designed to highlight the production’s problems: with the thwacks of the shuttlecock regularly out of sync with the supposed ‘hits’, and the choreography between the players significantly out of whack with one another. Such gripes are not nitpicking when it so severely spoils the momentum, immersion and serious tone of the work.

The ramshackle performance was a real shame since the play itself had some strong characters and engaging moments. The story’s lurching between different eras in India (1932, the ’70s and 2017) had some dramatic punch to them, and further honing of the script and pacing could have helped the work to flourish. A lot of the monologues felt a little worthy, in a ‘here-I-am-skewering-society’s-dastardly-ways’ manner, but might have landed in a more well-rounded production. A missed opportunity that can hopefully be re-fashioned into a more cohesive, enjoyable play.

The Spire, 17 May 2017

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