dctheatrescene.com: Perhaps a bit long and convoluted – with a plot that switches back and forth between the 1930s and 1980s – Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink collected generally favorable reviews in early stagings in London and San Francisco. Once Joy Zinoman gave the play its East Coast premiere in 2000, it garnered rave reviews, enthusiastic audiences, a run that was extended multiple times, and a number of awards.
2 comments:
I love being introduced to this kind of intercultural plays, and have watched a great number of them since I am also very interested in the collaboration of two contrasting elements. I’ve always felt that there is a distinct difference between the interpretation of culture between the people who have just deeply studied the culture, and the people who have actually lived and experience the culture. I am sure the way how the story develops in Indian ink would be effective as well based on Zinoman and Stoppard’s unique path of life and their “intercultural sensibility” as the writer mentions. One thing that I wish the article to have done is to introduce more about the scenery element of the play. While observing the difference between acting is indeed interesting, cultural fusion is also fascinating as they can create very special and unusual visuals compared to the ones that are heavily concentrated on single culture.
I love that there are shows being made about experiences between cultures, I also love the fact that the play is about the difference between western and eastern cultures, specifically in India. I do like the fact that the director decided to find actual Indians to be a part of the play and had the cast immersed in the culture they will have to portray and experience. Admittedly I was very nervous when I first clicked on the article and in the first few paragraphs as this play seemed to sound like white people "discovering" India for the first time. I definitely wanna read this play as I wanna see the level of "white discovery" I am sensing from the play and how accurate it is to India as the creators who wrote the play are not Indian. While the writer did live India during boarding school, India has changed immensely in the past 20 years and may not be accurate if the play takes place during this time period. I do hope the cultures they write about are respected which I do have high hopes for from reading the rest of the article. Overall, I love that there is most exposure happening in theatre about eastern culture without falling into orientalism. Next, I hope people from the east start making plays about their experiences and cultures as well as demanding for representation rather than relying on people from the west to write about them.
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