BOLLYWOOD JANE: til 12 May

Leicester

BOLLYWOOD JANE: Amanda Whittington
Haymarket Leicester: Tkts 0116 253 9797
Runs: 2h 10m, till 12 May
Review: Rod Dungate, 9 May 2003-05-09

A heart warming tale in which the course of true love fortunately never runs smooth
Amanda Whittington's play is an honest-to-goodness heart-warming tale set in multi-cultural Leicester. It centres around a Bollywood cinema (the Star of Bollywood) so there's a good sprinkling of song and dance numbers to keep everyone smiling.

16 year old Jane (who becomes Bollywood Jane) comes to live in the centre of Leicester because her mum, 32 year old Kate, has left her bloke, Mac, who's married. Jane bumps into young Dini and is drawn into the Star of Bollywood cinema which Aamir is trying to rescue from the back of beyond. Jane naturally falls for Dini but Dini wants to make his name as a performer in London: fortunately the course of true love (Kate and Mac, Jane and Dini) isn't allowed to run smooth.

My only qualm about all this is that there's a hint of something between Aamir and Dini – is there something there or not? If there is, then bring it into the open on an equal footing with everything else. The 'hinted at' quality gives it an unwelcome jokey prurience.

That said the show is great fun and at times genuinely moving. Whittington's contrast between the warm happy glow of Bollywood fiction and the harsh realities of the real world carries its point and gives the play a pleasant tang to its taste.

Kerry Claire Phelan (Jane) drives the play along with boundless energy. We never quite believe in her naiveté but that's all part of the game - we enjoy pretending we do. It's a good job there are no birds tweeting away in threes in Leicester centre: if there were Dharmesh Patel (Dini) would have them on stage eating out of his hand – like he does Jane, Kate, Aamir and us.

Director Kully Thiarai keeps the whole thing bowling nicely along and Sneha Mistri's witty choreography is a source of much additional delight.

Jane: Kerry Claire Phelan
Dini: Dharmesh Patel
Kate: Sara Poyzer
Mac: Andonis Anthony
Aamir: Gary Pillai
Sanjay: Faizaan Shurai
Dancers: Natalia Campbell, Michelle Lob, Santhi Rajendran

Director: Kully Thiarai
Design: Ali Allen
Costume Design: Marise Rose
Choreography: Sneha Mistri
Lighting: Ciaran Bagnall
Sound: Scott George

2003-05-09 10:27:39