Seriously Funny

What started off as a performance custom-tailored for the Commonwealth Games,hosted in India last year,has turned into a popular play that actor-director Maya Krishna Rao will stage across all metro cities between September and November.

Quality Street,a comedy based on Nigerian novelist Chimammanda Ngozi Adichie’s short story,is a 40-minute solo performance that follows Nigerian Mrs Njoku’s character,a housewife. Her daughter Sochienne,after returning from the US,harbours a distaste for her mother’s ‘bourgeois’ ways and wants to marry a Kenyan. Mrs Njoku,on the other hand,is not too happy to see this and goes through a series of emotions. It is Rao’s zestful recreation of the vibrant character through a heavy accent and ostentatious mannerisms of a neurotic mother that made Quality Street popular.

For the renowned actor,director,writer and activist,the idea of performing Adichi’s short story materialised when she was asked to choose something from the Commonwealth literature to perform. “They’re all usually about exploitation,but I wanted something funny and felt this one was ideal for the occasion,” says Rao. “I enjoyed doing it because the story is universal.”