The main story, though, is of an industrial dispute where one man stood alone, as we flash back to Kolkata in 2000, when Amba's father Prab (Irfan Shamji) was similarly on hold for work, as a textile factory closed, its workers waiting on vague promises that it would reopen any day now.
Trying to get himself to the front of the queue when it does, Prab gets involved with a traditional jatra theatre company, a Bengali tradition that adapts Mahabharata stories. The factory owner's son Devesh (Scott Karim) is its leading man, and he hopes to befriend him by becoming the company's new playwright. It works, and when the factory reopens Devesh gives him a management role, but the other former workers are less lucky: The company have cut costs by illegally hiring child workers as young as eight at a fraction of the adult wages, and Prab has really been hired to oversee them, bribe the former workers to leave them alone, and cover up the truth.
To be honest this was a show I hadn't originally planned on seeing because it just sounded so bleak. I was only swayed by the casting of Shamji and Ayesha Dharker, who plays star actress Chellam. Frustrated with playing the same old stories to disinterested audiences, Chellam quickly worked out the "lost" Mahabharata story Prab is writing is actually his own invention, and encourages him to take it in a political direction that will speak to their audience; he's also being chased by a journalist who wants him to turn whistle-blower over the child labour. On the opposite side is his wife Kajol (Zainab Hasan,) who wants him to keep his head down: Political activists can get blacklisted from future work, but with Devesh looking increasingly like a gangster there's the possibility for much worse.
Chasing Hares won the Theatre Uncut Political Playwriting Award, and its politics can sometimes be a blunt instrument; Milli Bhatia's production can't quite cover up an uneven play that's heavy on exposition but occasionally builds up to a rousing moment. It's true of Moi Tran's set as well: A revolving stone slab at the centre brings some movement, but the vast grey backdrop feels largely like a screen for Akhila Krishnan's projections, which periodically come to life with birds and trees when Prab starts to tell his story of animals rising up against their oppressors. And while I know Kajol's complicity is meant to be all about her fear for her family, she actually comes across as quite happy for other people's children to be exploited and abused if it means her own life is easier.
What Bhattacharyya does achieve though is to offer the play's harsh truths to the audience unfiltered - and although what's shown is rarely graphic, there are some pretty disturbing descriptions - without becoming relentlessly depressing. A lot of this is down to the play's underlying optimism about what collective effort can achieve, and the Young Vic has certainly got its timing right in scheduling this for a summer of industrial action. I was also right about the casting making this well worth seeing: Shamji's dishevelled charm is perfect for the quiet man becoming the reluctant figurehead for action; contrasting with Dharker's charismatic firebrand, who we're not entirely allowed to forget has a lot less to lose than the man she's spurring to action.
(One little postscript/warning for anyone planning to see the show: I am, of course, very much in favour of the Young Vic providing a free PDF of the programme on its website, it's both environmentally friendly and doesn't rip off the audience. I don't approve quite so much of Bhattacharyya's essay in that programme containing a honking great plot spoiler, so tread carefully.)
Chasing Hares by Sonali Battacharyya is booking until the 13th of August at the Young Vic.
Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes including interval.
Photo credit: Isha Shah.
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