“Indian Ink” Now Playing at Roundabout Theatre Company

Sept 30 Until Nov 30, 2014

 

Indian Ink is a 1995 play by Tom Stoppard based on his 1991 radio play In the Native State. The stage version of Indian Ink had its first performance at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, and opened at the Aldwych Theatre, London, on February 27, 1995. The production was directed by Peter Wood and designed by Carl Toms. The play had its American premiere in 1999 at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California, directed by Carey Perloff .

2014 Production

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An evocative portrait of love and loss, Indian Ink movingly explores how the creative spirit can bring us together in the most unexpected ways. Carey Perloff (Artistic Director, American Conservatory Theater) directs. This production features nudity and is therefore recommended for audiences over 16 years of age. Roundabout Theatre Company production at The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre.

Rosemary Harris, Romola Garai and Bhavesh Patel in Indian Ink.

Themes

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Among the play’s themes is the contrast of Indian and European styles of poetry and visual art. Nirad explains to Flora the classical Indian theory of nine rasas, which are tonal schemes uniting all forms of art. Each rasa is associated with a colour, a mood, and a musical scale. The play’s title refers to Shringara, the rasa of erotic love, which is associated with an inky blue-black colour and the god Krishna, who is always painted with dusky blue skin. Flora is at first puzzled by this artistic tradition, but on falling in love with Nirad she realizes, “It is the colour he looked by moonlight.”

The play shares with other Stoppard plays of the 90s the theme of nostalgia and romantic loss, with Flora as the lost beloved corresponding to Thomasina in Arcadia and Moses in The Invention of Love. And like those two plays, it cuts back and forth between characters in two time periods sharing the same set. Stoppard has given director Peter Wood partial credit for developing the structure of the play with its two intertwined storylines.[

 

2014 Cast

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Firdous Bamji – Nirad Das
Bill Buell – Englishman
Nick Choksi – Dilip
Romola Garai – Flora Crewe
Rosemary Harris – Eleanor Swan
Neal Huff – Eldon Pike
Caroline Lagerfelt – English woman
Omar Maskati – Nazrul
Tim McGeever – Resident
Brenda Meaney – Nell
Philip Mills – Eric Swan
Ajay Naidu – Coomaraswami
Bhavesh Patel – Anish Das
Lee Aaron Rosen – David Durnance
Rajeev Varma – Rajah/Politician
Rajesh Bose – Anish Das, Nirad Das u/s
Vandit Bhatt – Coomaraswami, Nazrul, Rajah/Politician u/s
Claire Brownell – Nell, Englishwoman u/s
Mark David Watson – Resident, Englishman, Eric u/s

 

2014 Creative

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Tom Stoppard – Playwright
Carey Perloff – Director
Neil Patel – Set Design
Candice Donnelly – Costume Design
Robert Wierzel – Lighting Design
Dan Moses Schreier – Composer and Sound Design
Gillian Lane-Plescia – Dialect Coach
Thomas Schall – Fight Consultant
Tom Watson – Hair & Wig Design
John Carrafa – Choreographer
Nevin Hedley – Production Stage Manager

 

See TheatreGold Database for full review

 

The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre

The Laura Pels Theatre, 111 West 46th Street, New York, NY, 10036

 

Take a look at Roundabout’s main homepage for Indian Ink

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