Monday 16 March 2009

Back In Town

I am not keen on productions that try to solve all of our love problems. Some of them get lost and others...just have no head or tail. That's not to say a few have not managed it. But when a play is focused on how to find 'The One' then that worries me because it might just be a waste of my time.

Where is My Desi Soul Mate? A new production by Rifco Arts is the first play I have seen this year. I was not expecting the gritty realism of ‘Township Stories’ or the poetic language of Shakespeare or the animation you get when watching John Kani on stage. I just wanted to get into a theatre, sit down and see some characters on stage tell me a story. Okay, not the most gripping production but it made me laugh. For the one hour I was in that theatre, I forgot about the fact that I was turned down for a job a few hours earlier, despite being so upset before I got there. It didn’t matter that my feet was hurting like hell due to the heels I had on. I had left everything at the door and settled down for these characters to tell me their stories. Funny at some points and a little slow at others but it was okay. I saw someone else cry and they made me laugh.

That’s the beauty of theatre, you forget your struggles for an hour or more as you get immersed into the story. My friend once described going to the theatre as going to creative church with the exception that you don’t get to holler and scream because you are not hearing a sermon.

I had forgotten what it was like to sit back and let other people tell you a story you know nothing about. I have really missed that. I must start going out again. I need to get a feel of what the London audience is happy to pay for. Most of all, I need others to challenge my creative mind so I can get my creative juice flowing again. I’m back in town and so it is.

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