KEY POINTS:
That life makes cowards of us all is a central theme in Indian Ink's new play The Dentist's Chair.
Success can have a similar effect. After all, the company's multi-award-winning and internationally acclaimed Krishnan's Dairy trilogy was always going to be tough to follow.
It means those involved with The Dentist's Chair have had to "feel the fear and do it anyway".
For Indian Ink founders Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis, the first step was to consider whether they should try to repeat the success of Krishnan's Dairy, The Pickle King and The Candlestick Maker or part ways.
Deciding it was worth a shot, the duo spent more than two years focusing on developing the story with cast members Carl Bland, Peta Rutter, Mia Blake and Gareth Williams, and musicians David Ward and Isaac Smith.
Lewis and Rajan retained some popular stylistic elements from the trilogy, such as their trademark masks, combined with other technology, incorporated into a story with everyday rather than exotic themes.
Like many contemporary playwrights, the duo was provoked by the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. "We looked around at a world in the grip of the post-9/11 terror attacks and didn't like what we saw; so our story became a response to the climate of fear that was created out of that," says Lewis.
"We thought about the things that instilled fear in us - that we had both just turned 40, that we each had three children who count on us, that we have mortgages - and created a story about how you live courageously in a world where you are at an age and stage where you can't just pack up and start again."
The central character is Albert (Bland), a dentist with a secret from his past which has sent him into self-imposed exile in his rundown dental practice.
As Albert shelters, his wife Judy (Rutter) grows increasingly exasperated.
Albert's long neglected passions are inflamed by a delicate operation on a young woman, Ruth (Blake). To complicate matters, Albert is haunted by the ghost of William Kemmler (Williams), the first person to be executed in the electric chair.
The cast have to be brave, too. Rutter says working with masks for the first time pushed her out of her comfort zone while Bland, soon to turn 50, says the themes of fear, love and loss resonate more acutely with him these days.
It is perhaps Blake who faces the biggest challenge. Because she's seven months pregnant, her character has morphed from a waif into someone far heavier. Blake says she is enjoying exploring a new physicality. "But then there's the whole 'baby brain' thing and whether I can remember my lines - only joking," she laughs.
Under Lewis' direction, the cast continues refining the story. The Auckland season follows The Dentist's Chair premiere in Wellington and a North Island tour.
"Each time I put the show up, it is as good as I think I can make it and I want to believe I have created a world-beater, a masterpiece," he says.
Due to a family illness that may require Carl Bland to leave the country at short notice, Jacob Rajan will reprise the role he played at the NZ International Arts Festival for the Auckland season.
ON STAGE
What: The Dentist's Chair
Where and when: SkyCity Theatre, September 11-27
