Play review : Thicker Than Blood

Play : Thicker than blood.
Playwright : Delon Weerasinghe.
Troupe : Theatre Nisha, Chennai.
Director : V.Balakrishnan.
Awards won : Gratiaen Prize for best script in 2005.
Characters :
Suresh : An army major, crippled in the war, a war hero.
Old Man : An unnamed character who saves Suresh's life during the war.
Harsha : Suresh's elder brother.
Maithrey : Harsha's wife.
Dinesh : Harsha and Maithrey's son.
Kithsiri Bappa : An shrewd, old, manipulative politician; also the doyen of their family.
Vijay : Suresh's subordinate in the army.
Terrorist : An LTTE operative.

Story :
Suresh, who loses a leg in battle is acclaimed as a war hero and honorably discharged from the army. Disillusioned and frustrated, he spends almost all his time brooding at home, continually being haunted by memories of an old man who saves his life during the war, dying in the process. Harsha, his elder brother and a successful businessman, is just starting his foray into politics, under the aegis of Kithsiri Bappa. He devotes too much of his time to politics and as a result his relationship with his family and business partners begins to suffer. Kithsiri suggests that they rope in Suresh to help them with their campaign as he's a war hero. Suresh, though mistrustful of Kithsiri, agrees. His popularity increases gradually and at his acme, he agrees to be fielded as a candidate from Colombo, replacing Harsha who is less charismatic.
The play offers new insights into the concept of who is a terrorist and who is a hero. It explores the personal integrity, idealism and patriotism of a soldier and also what war means to a soldier, a civilian and a politician.

Review :
This is a script I've read long ago and one that I really liked. Also on learning that the director is a NSD graduate, I went to watch the play with great expectations. Unfortuantely, I was let down in all departments. The acting, direction and lighting were quite amateurish. As far as the actors went, no one really seemed to get into the role and as a result the impression one got was only that of a set of people who had memorized their lines well and not missed a single cue. The modulation wasn't all right in a lot of places too. And no one seemed to adhere to that most basic rule of theatre : THAT YOU GO LOUD FROM YOUR GUT, NOT FROM YOUR THROAT. All the actors ended up either shouting or calling out when loudness was demanded, not a single one went loud from their stomach. Individually, I would say that Suresh did an OK job, though the brooding persona (which you feel when you read the script) was missing. Another point to note was his reaction when Dinesh pushes him down, which looked really contrived. Maithreyi and the old man were decent too. Harsha was bad, his voice sounded pleading all the time, even when he's trying to assert authority over his family. Certainly not the impression you get from the script. Dinesh and Kithsiri were flat at most times. Direction and utilisation of the stage was poor too. Most of the time, the actors who were conversing were positioned awkwardly. And the lighting, which was a very important aspect of the play, given the simplicity of the stage settings was pretty amateurish too. They seemed to brighten up and dim down quite unnecessarily. And especially during scene changes, I don't think it's a good idea to keep lights on. The backstage people can use pencil torches. I mean, last semester in our play, we managed an entire living room to courtroom scene change successfully only using pencil torches.
Overall a pretty disappointing performance I would say, clearly affirming that an NSD tag does not necessarily mean a great play.