A powerful piece of writing wasted on this jaded play

Plot: Penned by Noor Baig, Spaces is the story of a woman named Aziza — a lively and passionate soul, who loves painting. She lives with her loving but pragmatic, widowed mother, Mumtaz Begum in her ancestral haveli somewhere in Murad Nagar, Hyderabad. She loves her home — the front porch, the high ceilings, the chirping of the morning birds on the window panes; in short, everything about it.But, it’s the memories of childhood spent with her father in the dwelling which she cherishes most. She is engaged to her childhood beau, Javed, a suave NRI who lives in Chicago, and talks of the couple’s nikah are afloat. But there is a problem. Aziza is reluctant to leave her haveli and go with Javed to a foreign city. Will Aziza be
compelled to do so?
Review: The play begins with Noor as Aziza, narrating her backstory in a soliloquy. In the process, she introduces the sprawling set to the audience and tries to establish the character’s charming persona. She does her best to bring out the bubbly and compassionate personality of Aziza, but her act seemed rusty. Though the character is one she penned herself during her Chennai days, not for a moment were we convinced that she is indeed Aziza; nor did she seem at home on stage.
Considering the play has been staged many times in the city, the audience expected a tinge of novelty from the supporting cast — Vijay Prasad as the loyal housekeeper Ramaiah and Shailaja Reddy as the star-struck Shahzaadi, among others. But they all looked exhausted and brought nothing new to the characters. Mohammad Ali Baig’s performance as Javed, with his forced American accent, too was bland. In the direction department, Mohammad Ali Baig opted for cross-cutting — a theatrical technique where the stage is split into two halves with each part representing a different time and place — to execute the scenes of video calling between Javed and Aziza. But the method’s
impact was minimised as the light play failed to create separate moods for each space. at one point, it seemed as if both the characters are in the same room. Another major glitch was the use of lapel mics. Though many vouch for the freedom it gives actors in terms of movement on stage, in this production it was a bane as recurring contact noises robbed the sheen off a few intense scenes making them jarring to the ears. The emotional monologue just before the climax called for an intense performance. But despite the fabulous writing, which is her own, Noor’s wooden performance didn’t do justice to it. The unskilled light play doubled the scene’s woes, with shadow covering much of her face.
Verdict: During its initial years, Spaces was well received across the globe because it’s a very well-written script that can strike a chord with anybody with a sense of heritage and belonging. But today, the play needs a major overhaul, especially in terms of the cast and technicalities. It’s time the team passed on the responsibility of this play to a new generation of actors who can bring in a little novelty and do justice to the writing.