Indian Ink - 2003
Playwright: Tom Stoppard
Director: Ashok Sinha
Producer: Nilay Oza
Assistant Producer: Reshma Patel
Stage Managers: Avantika Daing, Priyanka Mathew
Set Designer: Tania Bijlani
Costume Designer: Kirche Zeile
Lighting Designer: Jeff McCrum
Music: Atul Subbiah
Actors:
Lethia Nall- Flora McCrewe
Sendhil Ramamurthy- Nirad Das
Brian Coffee- Eldon Pike
Deep Katdare- Anish Das
Helen Jean Arthur- Eleanor Swan
Coomaraswami/ Rajah: Vikram Somaya
Dilip- Debargo Sanyal
David Durance- GR Johnson
Nell- Rebecca Challis
Eric- Kevin Chap
Nazrul- Prashant Vijay
Servants- Rajat Gupta, Ranjit Gupte
Alter Ego's third production and its most ambitious to date -- is Tom Stoppard's Indian Ink which ran at the Walkerspace Theater from August 16, 2003 through August 30, 2003. Lyrically shifting between pre-independence 1930's India and the 1980's Britain of Margaret Thatcher, Indian Ink depicts a timeless love affair set against the backdrop of one of the most significant moments in history - the emergence of the Indian subcontinent from the grip of the British Empire.
While traveling in India, poet Flora Crewe meets and develops a friendship with Indian artist Nirad Das. Fifty years later, biographer Eldon Pike struggles to piece together Flora's unique and liberated life from the bits of evidence she left behind, while Nirad's son Anish develops a singular friendship with Flora's sole surviving relative, her sister Eleanor. Their stories, and the story of India's birth, form the fabric of this lush and vivid play that is replete with Stoppard's trademark wit and wordplay. Indian Ink represents Stoppard's love for India where he spent the early years of his life and which he revisits with the play.
Indian Ink was staged at the Walkerspace Theater, SoHo Rep, 46 Walker Street, from August 16th to August 30th. Due to the the overwhelming response, Indian Ink was extended by popular demand from the 2nd of September to the 7th of September.
Photos of the production are here