Guards at the Taj by Rajiv Joseph, Directed by Samip Raval, a co-production with Pratidhwani, Arts West, through October 6.
The Lovely Bride decamped to West Seattle, dined at Mashiko, our favorite high-end sushi place, and since we were early this time, I had a chance to grab an ice cream cone at the Husky Deli (which usually closes at 7). Also then discovered that right next to the Arts West Theatre a Top Pot donut has opened. Nice.
Guards at the Taj is a dark and bloody comedy, leaning more towards the dark and the bloody. Humayun (Sumant Gupta) and Babar (Varun Kainth) are guards outside the the newly completed Taj Mahal (Agra, India, 1648). Babar is chaotic, human, and imaginative. Humayun is precise, lawful, and dedicated to both the government and his friend. They are on duty. They are not supposed to talk (they talk). They are not supposed to think (they philosophize) They are not supposed to look at the Taj in the first light of the dawn (they look). They have a crappy job assignment, and it is only going to get worse. Much worse.
The actors are excellent. Gupta's Humayan is tightly-wound, pragmatic and dedicated to his role in life, no matter how crappy it is. Kainth's Babur is an everyman, bubbling with ideas, fancies, and inventions. Their conversations are wide-ranging, but always circle back to the fact that they are little wheels within a much crueler machine. They banter, argue, and joke. They have an easy rapport and have to do horrible things, but are a matched pair. The framework is similar to other two-person plays like Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, but the play moves well and there is no lagging in the 90-minute production.
The set and presentation is well done, with rotating walls for scene changes, space on the main stage for those who want sit on pillows (the Lovely Bride and I are too old for such things), Dabbawalla containers (with gruesome contents) litter the perimeter. Musicians (Sampada Bhalerao on Sitar, Jayant Bhopatkar on drums) are tucked in a forward corner of the stage, providing the Greek chorus for the guards.
The play is co-produced with Pratidhawani, a local non-profit dedicated to promoting South Asian culture in music, dance, and drama. A couple years ago, the theatre did a production with Pork Filled Productions, an Asian-American theater group. And I'm kind of grooving on these team-ups, in that it brings different flavors of theatre into the house.
As I said, it very dark in its comedy. There is blood on the stage and body parts strewn about and horrible decisions and repercussions (I told you - it gets worse for both men). It is not one of those toe-tapping, feel-good plays that is standard playgoer fare (but next up at the Arts West, their Christmas musical). It left me more than a little stunned. Which I think is the purpose of theatre well-done.
More later,
