The exuberant vitality of community theatre is abundantly demonstrated as Prayas Theatre launch a wildly ambitious production that condenses the vast sweep of Rohinton Mistry's much-loved novel into an intimate stage play.
Both heartbreaking and uplifting, the story immerses us in the abject poverty of slum dwellers struggling to maintain their dignity amid the turmoil of Indira Gandhi's suspension of democracy in the 1970s.
The script, devised by Britain's Tamasha Theatre, brilliantly illuminates the novel's complex dialectic in which the relentless accumulation of misfortune seems to engender compassion while hard-won success leads to alienation and hardening of the heart.
The production throws up haunting visual images created through puppetry and director Ahi Karunaharan evokes the politically charged turbulence of the period with sharply choreographed movement of a huge cast.
But it is in the art of story-telling that the drama really comes to life with exquisite word pictures conjuring up luminous portraits of the novel's unforgettable characters.
