Theatre

Two teenagers, Deepa and Jeevan, have sex in their classroom and their ill-advised use of a mobile phone means that, one outgoing message later, people all round the world are able to have a close-up view of their activities.

That’s the devastating set-up of Chennai-based Anupama Chandrasekhar’s probe into Indian life where the advanced technology sits side by side with a very conservative culture. Curiously, Deepa remains locked in her room as Chandrasekhar concentrates on the widowed mother’s attempts to survive their public disgrace and her neglected son’s anguish that he has been tarnished by his sister’s behaviour. Her presence is felt as mother and son periodically disappear into her room or bang on her door, but Deepa’s failure to show leaves a big hole in the play. Perhaps Chandrasekhar intends to emphasise how little the mob outside their apartment is interested in the real person, or maybe she wants to avoid portraying lengthy rows between mother and daughter. But consequently, important, revealing conversations are omitted and instead the play concentrates on Lolita Chakrabarti’s Malini who endures a tsunami of emotions – denial, fury, pleading, resolution, total despair – as she struggles to take in the terrible news. With the water lorry unable to reach the apartment block and the residents demanding that she and her children leave, Malini is forced to turn to the office creep who fancies her.

This is the second play in a season of transfers to the main theatre of upstairs successes; in this case the move feels premature. I imagine that Indhu Rubasingham’s production is broader and funnier in the larger space, especially the satirical emphasis on academic success that sees families struggling to be honest with each other. Although uncertain in tone, Chandrasekhar’s drama is at least strong enough to convey how it feels to be caught between old and new.