Ink makes its mark on theatre
James Croot finds out why a Kiwi troupe is celebrating by rejigging one of its most popular plays.
New Zealand Theatre company Indian Ink is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a national tour of one of its most popular plays.
However, this isn’t The Pickle King that first debuted in 2002. Instead, the tale of ‘‘love, death and preserves’’ has been rejigged to transform the central love story into a same-sex relationship.
Indian Ink co-founder Justin Lewis says the change was both a reflection of the talents of actresses Vanessa Kumar and Kalyani Nagarajan and the diversification of New Zealand society.
‘‘I reckon, 15 years ago, that would have been the story of the piece, whereas now, people just take it in their stride. It’s been really lovely to have gone around to places like Napier, Gisborne and Whangarei and the discourse about the show is about the humour, the pathos and the heart.
‘‘We wanted to do an update that made it more contemporary and speaks to something different. I’ve no doubt that while more established New Zealanders are comfortable with gay marriage now, for migrant and newer immigrant communities it is still something they are coming to terms with.
‘‘Young people will love it and some of the older people will be challenged by it. We did a school show in Gisborne and there was a young man who talked in a very moving way about what it meant for him to have a show that showed that love could take many forms. It was a very powerful and potent thing for him and for me that is part of the real pleasure of touring – going to places where you make an impact in the community.’’
It’s an impact that has grown significantly over the past two decades, with Indian Ink’s seven plays having been performed to appreciative audiences in many corners of the globe. Lewis admits that when he and co-founder Jacob Rajan first started they weren’t thinking much beyond ‘‘a little show at Bats Theatre for a few hundred people’’.
‘‘Jacob and I met after a show in a theatre bar and we just just got talking about what we liked. We both have a shared love of masks and story and those two things were kind of the base of the relationship. Jacob knew he was an actor who wanted to write and I knew I was a director who wanted to write and create original work. We had this commonality, but also complementary skills and it has just grown from there.’’
While entertaining New Zealand audiences was always their first goal, right from the debut of Krishnan’s Dairy in 1997, Lewis admits they were always hungry for overseas success.
‘‘Once we kind of realised that Krishnan’s Dairy was a great show and made another one that was a success [The Candlestick Maker], we started believing it wasn’t a fluke and we could do this more than once.
‘‘I was really keen to take our wares out into the world, partly to test ourselves as artists on those other stages and also just to give the shows a bigger, longer life. We earn our living by doing this, so we need more people to see it in order to keep doing what we do – that means we have to go outside New Zealand.’’
When asked if there was anything he was most proud of achieving over the past 20 years, Lewis says the ‘‘feeling of sitting in an international audience in Singapore and the US and the theatre being full of people laughing and responding to the work in the same way they do here was enormously satisfying’’.
‘‘People say you don’t do theatre to get rich – you do it for the glory and it’s that audience response that keep me going and feeds me.
‘‘There have also been times, maybe once or twice, where we’ve made shows that haven’t been as good as we would have liked and it’s the comeback from that that gives me enormous satisfaction.
‘‘It’s enormously painful when it doesn’t quite work and then to kind of sit back, look at that and kind of learn from it, keep going and somehow, out of that compost of struggle, for something great to come from that – that’s amazing.
‘‘The Guru of Chai was one of those shows.’’
Lewis says one of the biggest changes he’s noticed since 1997 is that New Zealand audiences have a much greater appetite for diverse stories ‘‘which reflect who New Zealanders are now’’.
‘‘There’s a real willingness to embrace risk and try different things. People go to theatre looking for an experience that leaves them looking at the world in a different way. It is somewhat different to going to a multiplex to a see a rom-com – which will basically confirm your existing world view.
‘‘I also think there’s more experimentation and innovation in terms of theatrical form and style. You can see everything from very naturalistic plays to immersive theatre. When we started, we were an oddity – now there are other people coming behind us doing their own versions of mask theatre.’’
He’s also impressed with the number of young people attending theatre productions these days.
‘‘Theatre is kind of hip and cool. I think that’s because if you spend a lot of time on your screen – and as the screens get smaller – people’s gaze goes more and more inward. So the opportunity to engage in the live experience is something that’s unique and different in the digital world. I think that, for some people, that’s increasingly valuable.’’
Continuing to expand their own horizons, Rajan and Lewis have recently written their first show for an international company. California’s South Coast Repertory Theatre, one of the largest producers of new writing in America, commissioned the pair to write Welcome to the Murder House last year.
‘‘It’s based on the true story of a well-meaning dentist who invents the electric chair and the twist we’ve given it, that gives it some life, is that it is told by death row prisoners. It’s got the spirit of mask theatre. It’s a heightened, imaginative play, with lots of music and a very theatrical presentation. It’s about our desire to turn people into either a hero or a villain and it’s really kind of going, ‘Well, it’s not really that black or white.’’’
Having spent a lot of time in the US over the past few years, Lewis thinks the show is timely.
‘‘The polarisation in that society, which is now spreading around the world, is driven by that kind of black-and-white thinking. It’s something we’ve got to really address.’’
Sounds like yet another Indian Ink show that will leave an indelible mark. ❚ The Pickle King will be performed at Christchurch’s Isaac Theatre Royal from June 15 to 17. For more information, see indianink.co.nz.