Quality Street, Maya Krishna Rao’s adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s story, is set to hit the city for the first time this weekend.
The Park’s New Festival 2011 has some lovely performances planned up for the city this weekend. One of the most eagerly-awaited amongst these is a performance by Maya Krishna Rao. Maya is a veritable powerhouse who acts, dances, sings, raps, directs and writes.
Her company, Vismayah, heralded a different kind of theatre tradition in India, drawing upon traditional performance genres.
For Bangalore, Maya has planned to bring a production called Quality Street. Based on a story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Quality Street tells the story of Mrs Njoku and her daughter Sochienne, who has returned from the US. The daughter has grown closer to her roots as a result of living abroad and the mother stills holds on to her colonial, Western values. The daughter’s plan to get married provides a fertile ground for clash between the two.
“This is a story I picked up when I was supposed to perform for the Commonwealth Games, 2010. This is a lovely story that resonates with the urban Indian experience. A lot of Indian urban parents send their children abroad, who return to ‘refind’ their roots, coming with grand notions of their cultural heritage. They need to find a common ground in order to engage in a dialogue,” says Maya.
Incidentally, Maya plays both the characters in this performance. “I wondered if I should adapt the play to Indian settings. But then I realised it is far funnier and more challenging to perform as a Nigerian woman. I put in a lot of research about Nigeria and how people live there,” she says. “It is a funny performance, but at the same time it is a telling act,” she continues.
The appeal of Quality Street lies in its many facets. On one hand, it is a story that has universal appeal, which strikes a chord with any audience. The underlying theme about our predicament regarding cultural heritage acts as a social commentary of the times we live in.
And then of course, the performance itself — where Maya switches effortlessly between the two characters, talking, singing, rapping in tune with the accompanying music — makes it an act not to be missed at any cost.
Be at Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar, Phase II, on September 18, 3pm, 7pm
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