LIGHT hearted plays always hit the right spot on a balmy summer evening, which was the case with The Rebelz’ Two 2 Tango — a collection of two plays enacted at the Top Storey, Alliance Francaise. Any doubts about the humour quotient was set to rest when the audience saw a girl and two young men take the stage, ready to kick-start Playwriting for Dummies — a droll look at the agonies of a world-renowned playwright, Sheela Punter (Preethika Hari), as she discussed the merits or otherwise of a well-written play, appropriate twists and turns — and the pitfalls you needed to avoid.
Toting remote controls, she and her characters, an emotional guy who wants to kill himself (Vinod) and another who talks him out of it — or tries to, drowning himself in a morass of would-be situations (Harish, dubbed ‘The Gay’ and incidentally the director as well) made up the trio, frequently sending everyone into chuckles. A short, neat piece which vetted everyone’s appetite, followed by a brief guitar solo — which, sadly, got little response as the majority knew none of the songs played.
The rest of the evening was taken by Alice in Blunderland — an English play based on a comedy of errors when Simon (Ashwin) invites his boss Jonathan Peabody (a rather neat performance by Bharathraj) and his wife, Vivienne (Divya) home for dinner. Peabody trusts men who are settled and stable — which is why Simon goes to elaborate lengths to hire an escort for the evening, passing her off as his girlfriend, Alice (Anupama). Problem? The girl who arrives at his home sets everyone aflutter, not to mention two more Alice’s who arrive to muddle things further. And then there’s his friend Alice as well — Alistair Campbell (Partha, the director) who throws a monkey-wrench into the works.
It might not be a brilliant piece of acting, per se, what with the paucity of humour compared to the first piece, and English accents going haywire — especially with Vivienne — but the expressiveness and enthusiasm of the whole cast sort of made up for it. Towards the end, the audience had more than entered the mood of a typical English setting, which made the piece worthwhile. A tango worth dancing.
expresso@epmltd.com