Directed by Rufus Norris and cleverly adapted by David Hare from Katherine Boo’s bestselling book, it depicts the real-life experiences of families living in makeshift homes in Annawadi, one of many slums that lie in the shadow of the sprawling Mumbai airport and surrounding hotels. It’s difficult to imagine a more graphic and vivid display of the division of equality than this.

The deafening sound of a plane taking off echoes around the auditorium at the same time as its shadow seemingly flies directly over us in the audience at the National Theatre. Soon after hundreds of plastic bottles crash onto the stage falling amongst other rubbish and the cast. The cluttered set is busy with striking juxtapositions such as shiny billboards featuring Bollywood stars above the corrugated metal of the improvised roofs below. It’s details like this that helps bring both the harsh realities and hustle and bustle of Annawadi to London, and make it a spectacle well worth going to see.

It’s difficult at moments to remember that the scenes on stage are based on a non-fiction book rather than a novel. Events – such as when a woman sets herself on fire – are all the more difficult to stomach when you know it actually happened. Perhaps almost as shocking is the level of corruption that’s demonstrated – something the book shows to an even more devastating extent. For anyone who has ever donated to charities who provide aid to India, it makes for uncomfortable viewing.

But despite the disbelief the audience may feel, it’s the hope and compassion that both stand out and those are the feelings I carry home with me. There’s the touching scenes of the girls who meet in the toilet block so one can teach the other about plays she has read at school; the entrepreneurial rubbish picker who decides to take the moral high ground and refuse any stolen goods despite the profit it will make; the injustice of the court system finally being set right and the hope that soon, just around the corner, there may be some escape.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers runs at the National Theatre until 13 April 2015.

The post Review: Behind The Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre, London appeared first on Positive News.

The most extraordinary thing about this production is the way that the grizzled, rasping, inhuman puppet at the heart of it transforms before the audience into a living, touching and tender human being by its close.

The premise is simple: “Could you kill someone?” asks the withered Roger of his new carer, a young man, played by Graham Dron, before descending into an attack of violent, disturbing coughing, drawn out to great effect. Billy must decide how far his duties as a carer should go towards his suffering, terminally ill friend.

It is this conundrum that the audience is drawn into, as Roger’s craggy features and brash, uncaring facade soften into those of a suffering old man and Billy grapples with his initial distaste.

The convincing puppetry of Nicholas Halliwell and Louisa Ashton, along with the creative talent of prop-maker and director, Shelley Knowles-Dixon, are quite astonishing and you could be forgiven for thinking that there is someone hidden within a costume, acting independently in front of you. All the while, the live music supplied by Lawrence Illsley on the guitar, coupled with the low-level lighting, provides an edge to the atmosphere in the theatre as the performance reaches its chilling climax.

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By this time, we have come to know Roger, have taken a welcome glimpse into the happier days of his past and become used to his Scots drawl and uncompromising manner, but also vividly aware of his pain and frustration. He has become a living individual.

Sparkle and Dark productions should be proud of the compelling manner in which they have been able to portray the sombre issue of euthanasia by sparking life into a fundamentally lifeless puppet.

Killing Roger is no longer running, but Sparkle and Dark will be launching a new production in the coming months. Check their website for updates.

The post Review: Killing Roger – Greenwich Theatre, London appeared first on Positive News.