At Home at the Zoo

Deccan Herald Theatre Festival is between February 5 to March 12, 2016 in Bangalore. We missed the first play "Twice Around The Park" as it was Valentine's day eve and we had other plans. The play we watched last weekend was 'At home, At the Zoo' at Choudayya Memorial Hall. To be honest I've not watched different genre of plays. My knowledge is limited to few mythological, folklore, historical, and few solely based on contemporary society, by large Indian plays. Presented by Jagrithi group 'At home, At the Zoo', penned down by Edward Albee and directed by Arundathi Raja. 

Synopsis: Peter has a comfortable job as an Editor in a publishing house. He and his wife Ann have a comfortable marriage. They live in a comfortable apartment in New York's Upper East Side with their two daughters and their pets. Life is, well, comfortable. Until Ann walks in and says "We should talk".

Following their talk, their comfort somewhat destroyed, Peter decides to go the part-perhaps to regain some comfort. But then along comes Jerry from the diametrically opposite Upper West Side of town. He's full of stories. He's looking to talk too. "I have been to the zoo", he says and Peter's life is turned upside down.

My Two Cents: I've learnt later that "The Zoo Story" was written first and prequel "Homelife" later after a few years. Adaptation of book for a movie is tricky I know, but into drama more trickier. The whole story must be conveyed through acting and dialogue. 

In first act, Peter and Anna have a conversation about their sex life. Pornographic details are described, yet in such an aesthetic way that there was not a tiny bit of embarrassment or unpleasantness. They lead a happy life, but for lack of sparks in the marriage, more like midlife crisis. Roy Sinai who played the role of Peter is intense. He made us to believe he really is the swanky, upper east sider. Ann played by Vandhana Prabhu is also good.

In second act, Peter goes to park to continue his reading. Here Jerry enters with an opening line 'I've been to Zoo". He talks incessantly about his life, his neighbors, parents, non-existent relationships. He starts telling the story of his landlady's dog and his inability to get connected to the dog. His tone and body language alarms Peter, still he tries to maintain a brave facade. Shortly an argument starts between them for park bench followed by Jerry pulling a knife. An ordinary day turns out to be rather dreadful for Peter. Will he be able to awaken the beast in himself? I'm not giving away the climax here. Swetanshu Bora played the role of Jerry. He has too many lines to mug. Though his performance is good, his accent gives away his Indianness and it is tough to perceive him to be a yankee.

The duration of play is 90 minutes. I enjoyed it quite okay. There were too many dialogues and lot for imagination, just a concised extension of a book.

PS:  Sometimes a person has to go a very long distance out of his way to come back to a short distance correctly.