On and off stage, family ties make this play possible
Picture: TEBOGO LETSIE
WHAT is an accounting graduate with a yen for the theatrical to do once he has comfortably mastered the running of his family’s business?
If he is Jithen Premrajh, he convinces his sister, partner and friends to help him stage a play he has written. The 30-year-old Durbanite is the writer and director of Love in a Pickle, a comic drama about the Moodleys, a Chatsworth family who move from the township to an upmarket suburb in Umhlanga.
“A lot of the story is based on personal experience,” said Premrajh. His own businessman father moved his family in the early ’90s.
“I was about 14, 15 when we moved to Umhlanga from Chatsworth.” He describes the transition as a culture shock.
“It was different. Chatsworth’s an interesting, colourful place. For example, if we had a function or a family get-together there, our neighbours would open their gates and our guests could park their cars there. When we moved to Umhlanga, a neighbour from across the road came and kicked up a fuss, asking why people were parked on his lawn.”
The characters in his play cope in different ways. Grandmother Manogri (played by Kogie Naidoo of the Broken Promises films) misses her social life. Social-climbing mother Soshila (radio’s Maeshnie Naiker) is thrilled about the move. Daughter Priya (Miss India finalist Pelisha Somiah) attracts controversy by getting involved with the Afrikaans boy next door.
“It is a comedy, but it touches on deeper issues,” said Premrajh, who studied film production. “It shows a generation evolving.”
The play opens on August 28 and will be the first to be staged at the new Crown Theatre at the Durban North Conference Centre, which is owned by Premrajh’s sister, Shiksha.
Shiksha also did the play’s set design. Premrajh’s partner, Chirag Patel, did the choreography. Together they form Tic Toc Productions.
Premrajh says putting on the play together has been a joy.
Tickets are R90 each through Computicket.