Storm in a Soup Bowl

The Golden Dragon recreates the drama inside a Chinese takeaway.

When Ramin Gray,then the associate director at the Royal Court Theatre,London,joined the Actors Touring Company (ATC) as the artistic director in 2010,he chose The Golden Dragon,a play by German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig,as his first assignment. This is a play that celebrates the art of the actor above all others, says Gray,introducing the production where five actors play a host of characters. This,he thought,would help make a strong statement about his belief in the power of the actor. He intends to stage the play in different places,given the ATCs agenda of travelling with contemporary theatre with a strong international focus.

Set in an ubiquitous Chinese takeaway restaurant,The Golden Dragon is one of the most successful contemporary German plays. In the naturalistic drama,the whole world is in a restaurant,in its frenetic kitchen where everyone is connected they are in a hurry and looking for a place they can call home. The five actors play characters that cut across gender and age: some Asian cooks,a woman in a red dress who leaves her husband,air stewardesses,the man who keeps the shop next door,a young woman whose boyfriend doesnt want their baby and a Chinese migrant with a toothache.

Characters shift through the performers physicality,vocal tone,accent,symbolic costume items and through introduction within the text which sees the actor narrate their own character. The production comprises 48 short scenes,shifting location and characters,fluidly moving from one to another.

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After opening in Plymouth last year,the production travelled to Edinburgh Fringe Festival,London,and several cities in the UK. Acclaim came from different quarters. Adam Pushkin,Head of Arts,British Council India,who watched it for the first time at Edinburgh found it funny,accessible,intelligent and thought-provoking.

The production will be staged at Mumbais National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) on January 10. It will travel to Delhi,Bengaluru and Thrissur. Ive never brought work to India in the past,however,when I was at the Royal Court Theatre,I was fortunate enough to work with emerging Indian playwrights in Mumbai and Bangalore. We developed a series of new plays,some of which were performed in London, says Gray,who enjoys the credit of directing over 15 new plays while working at the Royal Court.

While presenting Schimmelpfennigs play Push Up at the Royal Court in 2002,Gray had added an Indian element. We played the music of Geeta Dutt during the play. This gave a very romantic,yearning quality to the lives of characters stuck in a soulless global corporation with competition as its ruling ethic, says the director.

The Golden Dragon will be staged at the NCPA on January 10.

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