Watching a full-length farce with a semi-whodunit plot, it might be asking for too much to expect some logic. Neil Simon’s Rumors, performed by an MYT ensemble cast, is all about logic and things falling into places but in the most erratic fashion.
As guests at a dinner party discover that the host has shot himself and his wife is missing, complications arise as the guests try to put two and two together, all the while trying to maintain their upper-class façade. When the couples who arrive first, Chris and Ken and Claire and Lenny, try their best to keep the situation a secret first from each other and then from the other couples, some of the best acting and dialogue delivery takes place.
With nothing more than the centre of a room for a stage, directors Tanvi Patel and Nayantara Nayar effectively adopted to the situation in hand. They made use of not only the many exits in the room, but also the spiral staircase that leads up to a mezzanine landing, adding a more interactive perspective to the whole set.
It was evident that the actors had taken the effort to understand their roles in details. With each unfolding trait of the characters, especially the ability of even some of the most well-dressed, sophisticated cream of the society to lose face at crunch time, the actors nailed the emotions on the head for the most part. Though the play had girls playing both male and female characters, it was at no point difficult to keep up.
Tanvi Patel as Lenny, who had to maintain a crick in her neck throughout the over 60-minute play, was hands down the performer of the evening. Towards the end of the play, in the scene where Lenny makes up a story to escape an encounter with a cop, Patel was as convincing as an actor can get.
Namitha Vivek (Ken), Varsha Ramesh (Claire) and Anu Bhaskaraman (Chris) made strong first impressions, which they maintained throughout.
Sarvatmika Rajeev (Ernie), Sneha Sridhar (Cookie), Nayantara Venkatesh (Glenn), Zayn Marie Khan (Cassie) and Priyanka Kumar (Cop) had a lot to match up to after the first impact of the first four actors, but impressed nevertheless.
As far-fetched and preposterous as it was, Rumors was the perfect mid-week buster for an otherwise dull Wednesday night.
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