When Abdul (Shekhar Paleja)’s cricket team decides to take action to end their losing streak, they talk of recruiting Abdul’s brother, Hasan (Nadeem Phillip), who is an expert at the sport. But bringing Hasan from Bombay to Vancouver will cost them more than just a plane ticket. Not all teammates agree with the high stakes of his trip and although Hasan wants to reunite with Abdul, it means leaving behind his beloved Haseena (Risha Nanda) and comical Baba (Sanjay Talwar). This heartfelt and heartbreaking new play focuses on the circumstances that bring us together and tear us apart.
Director and dramaturg Rachel Ditor says, “The Men in White shows audiences that what happens in one area of the world happens to all of us, so the staging will heighten the butterfly effect of love and violence inAnosh Irani’s play.”
For Ditor to stage Bombay and Vancouver in one cohesive location, award-winning set designer Amir Ofek (The Valley; A Christmas Story, The Musical) created a cream-coloured room that encroaches into the audience. Throughout the play, characters move seamlessly between the cricket pitch, locker room, and Bombay chicken shop while remaining close to the audience,theatrically reinforcing the interconnectedness integral to Irani’s script.
Vancouver-based author and playwright Anosh Irani is hailed by Quill and Quire as “One of CanLit’s most innovative chameleons.” In addition to the Arts Club’s productions of his plays The Matka King (2007), Bombay Black (2008), and My Granny the Goldfish (2010), Irani has published three critically acclaimed novels: The Cripple and His Talismans, a national bestseller; The Song of Kahunsha, an international bestseller shortlisted for both Canada Reads and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize; and Dahanu Road, which was nominated for the Man Asian Literary Prize. His play Bombay Black won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, and his anthology, The Bombay Plays: The Matka King & Bombay Black, was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award. His work has been translated into eleven languages and his new novel, The Parcel, was published in 2016 by Knopf.
IN BRIEF Arts Club Theatre Company’s premiere of The Men in White at the Granville Island Stage (1585 Johnston Street) from February 9 to March 11, 2017. Monday–Thursday at 7:30 pm, Friday & Saturday at 8 pm, Wednesday at 1:30 pm, and Saturday at 2 pm. Tickets start at $29, inclusive of taxes and fees. Call the Arts Club Box Office at 604.687.1644 or visit artsclub.com.
