The Blue Mug - A Review

The Blue Mug
Director- Atul Kumar
Production- The Company Theatre, Mumbai
Performed and Devised By : Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, Sheeba Chadha, Konkona Sen Sharma, Munish Bhardawaj.
A theatrical creation based on "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat"
By Oliver Sacks
“
Dr. Sacks recounts the case histories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders: people afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations; patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; who are stricken with violent tics and grimaces or who shout involuntary obscenities; whose limbs have become alien; who have been dismissed as retarded yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents.
“
My Review:
The intention was to present a world where patients are lost in time... of what was...... however, what came cross was different....
At the outset, the actors come across as standalone characters.... none of them connected in either ways.... connected only in terms of recounting / remembering of what was – their memories.... which is a thin thread .....or rather which is a common ground for all of them....which does not come across so strongly....they recount........remember............ a cremation ground, a grandparent, some porn magazines, a neighbourhood girl, mangoes, cricket, a brother, hostel... blue green stones.... nothing beyond 1983....
There is a doctor (Konkana Sen Sharma) and her patient (Ranvir Shorey)... appearing intermittently..... where the case is presented.... of a patient lost in time... who remembers nothing.... that relationship is the only thread which clearly states what the original author had intended.... of neurological disorders....
However, as for the other characters, Rajat , Vinay, Sheeba and Munish, it was difficult to connect them to this bizarre "presentation"..they appeared as people just remembering.... their performances were brilliant....eliciting responses from their audiences.... in terms of comic... however, the plot is not very clear.... it is a bit vague... as to what was intended to be understood by the audience.... they didn’t seem bizarre or like patients who had lost memory... they just were.... recounting and remembering.... except between the Doctor and the patient... which was very clearly presented.... the connectivity between all the characters and what was hounding them was missing....
Konkana played a very safe character... it was a non challenging role of a doctor.... probably she was just roped in for the “X” factor..... Ranvir was a wee bit over the top.... Rajat and Vinay were just right... Sheeba and Munish passed....
The direction could have been better.... the actors could have been utilized more strongly..... the intention was good....but the projection didn’t convey the conviction.....