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Quadruple laughs
As Mariana Karim said at the start of the latest OGS (Old Grammarians’ Society) play California Suite, their last year’s performance of Noises Off would be a hard act to follow. Indeed, the play had been side-splittingly hilarious, but it would be unfair to compare their latest performance with it, as it would be well near impossible to come up with another drama as action-packed and perfectly synchronized as Noises Off. The fact that the audience, and particularly the volunteers, who were probably watching it for the umpteenth time could be heard roaring with laughter this time round too, says a lot for the talented group of actors that handled the various moods of the play.
California Suite does not revolve around one slapstick comic plot, but rather around four unrelated skits that are both funny and true to life. The four short plays focus on the goings on of four couples that occupy, at different times, rooms 203 and 204 of the posh Beverly Hills Hotel. Although the plays vary from being bitingly sardonic to outright slapstick comedy, they dwell on themes that are realistic and even poignant.
Take the first play, Visitor from New York. Starring Kamila Shamsie as Hannah Warren and Mervyn Hosein as William Warren, the play centres on Hannah’s fleeting trip to California to meet her ex-husband after nine years. The purpose of her trip is to ascertain if she should give in to her 17-year old daughter’s desire to be with her father — with whom she spends the summer vacations — rather than make her return to New York with her.
‘California Suite’ revolves around four unrelated skits that are both funny and true to life. The plays focus on the goings on of four couples that occupy, at different times, rooms 203 and 204 of a posh hotel. Although they vary from being bitingly sardonic to outright slapstick, they dwell on themes that are realistic and even poignant
With an underlying theme as depressing as a mother having to make the decision of severing ties with her daughter, one can only laud Neil Simon’s witty one-liners that kept the audience in fits. That is not to take away from Kamila Shamsie’s performance, which was par excellence as she delivered her sarcastic dialogues with the poise and sophistication of a professional. One must also mention here the unruffled manner in which she handled the technical glitch at the start of the play — when the door connecting the two rooms refused to open, no matter how hard she tried!
One felt that Mervyn Hosein, seasoned as he is, was to an extent overshadowed by Shamsie’s brilliant performance. She slipped into the role of a 42-year old hardened, successful magazine editor, who has a lover and ‘not a boyfriend’; has had hysterectomy done and whose daughter loves her but doesn’t like her, like the proverbial glove. During the course of the frigid banter between the ex-spouses, one learns that Billy, as her ex-husband has come to be known, has become a successful movie scriptwriter, is having an affair with an actress who has an 11-year old son, and has had prostrate surgery. Through the tongue-in-cheek witticisms about each other, one gets an insight into the personalities of the couple and the lives they are leading.
While the first was arguably the best of the skits, the second play, Visitors from Philadelphia, was also delightful. Starring Umar Rana as Marvin Michaels and Maya Ismail as Millie Michaels, not to forget Sanya Muneer (as a prostitute) who sleeps through the performance, the play is refreshingly different from the first in that there is more slapstick humour and less dependence on sarcasm. The skit opens with Marvin waking up with an acute hangover, only to realize that his wife will be arriving from Philadelphia any minute — they have taken separate flights so as to preclude the possibility of dying together in an air crash — and he has a stoned woman sleeping in his bed.
Marvin makes desperate attempts to make the rooms look respectable and to get rid of the prostitute, but in vain. Millie arrives, and after more hilarious attempts first to send her away and then to dump the sleeping body, he finally confesses all, seeking forgiveness. Again, it was a theme that many can probably relate to and boasted superb acting on the part of both the protagonists.
The third skit, Visitors from London with Kamal Jabbar as Sidney Nichols and Raheen Mani as Diana Nichols, was similar to the first in that its humour was less action oriented and more based on snide comments. Although the theme — the tension gripping a London film star nominated for the Oscars, and her reaction after hearing the crushing results — may not be one holding universal appeal, the play explored emotions one commonly experiences. Touching on it in a humorous way, Neil Simon skillfully exposes the feelings of insecurity besetting people, particularly in the hollow world of glitz and glamour.
Kamal Jabbar, with his understated acting, did justice to his role of the cool, gay husband, although his mannerisms didn’t strike one as being particularly gay, while Raheen Mani was her usual confident best.
The last skit, Visitors from Chicago, was even more of a slapstick comedy than the second performance and its theme was probably one that many in the audience could empathize with. Centring on two couples — Mr and Mrs Hollender played by Umar Rana and Maya Ismail, and Mr and Mrs Franklyn played by Jawad Sarwana and Saman Shamsie respectively — who spend their vacations together only to wind up driving each other crazy, it reinforces the view that you have to travel with a person in order to truly know him or her. While Umar and Maya, old hands at OGS plays, put up flawless performances, Saman and Jawad managed to hold their own.
Like vintage wine, the director-producer duo of Mariana and Anjum Karim seem to be getting better with every passing year. The set, designed by Anjum Karim and Sharmeen Beg, was effective without being too elaborate. The team deserves kudos for putting together an entertaining performance. One only wishes that the so-called educated and elite audience that comes to be entertained would show at least a little courtesy to the performers, if not to their fellow members, and learn to keep their mobiles on silent. As it was, this scribe was surrounded by beeping phones from all around. It is to the performers’ credit that they did not stumble on their lines in spite of the constant distraction.
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