Before the show has begun, you see a row of shoes waiting patiently on stage. The cast files in, the shoes are put on and we step into Chasing Hares, an exuberant, warm-hearted, socially motivated new play by Sonali Bhattacharyya, directed with vim by Milli Bhatia. Most of the action takes place in West Bengal but the frame is pointedly British – a link made between factory workers in West Bengal and the gig economy in the UK. The shoes could be seen as a symbol: Bhattacharyya’s writing is driven by the uncynical hope that we can put ourselves in each other’s shoes and make the world a fairer place.
As Prab, an idealistic writer and father, Irfan Shamji is a wonderfully relaxed presence on stage. We watch him pick up his baby daughter and a story at the same time – a tale about ogres in a drought – one of several of his unlikely narrative lullabies. Video designer Akhila Krishnan supports all stories with elegant shadow play and one of Bhattacharyya’s strengths turns out to be her emphasis on the importance of finding the right story at the right time. This comes into keenest focus when Prab and his wife meet two actors with a jatra, a folk theatre company, who seek a new story to replace traditional scenes from the Mahabharata.
