INDIAN INK
by Tom Stoppard
American Premiere 1999
Roundabout Theatre and A.C.T.
"Astonishing! Sexy, funny and deeply entertaining"
–– JESSE GREEN, NEW YORK MAGAZINE
"Carey Perloff's delicate revival glories in Stoppard's longing for big theories and endless mysteries. Perloff's intimacy with this piece in particular and Stoppard's oeuvre in general adds to the fluidity and crispness of the production... the scenes crackle with intensity."
–– KAREN D'SOUZA, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
Evocative and romantic, with a timeless sensuality and an accomplished cast.
—JENNIFER FARRAR, ASSOCIATED PRESS
INDIAN INK, A.C.T., 2015
Brenda Meany, Roberta Maxwell, Photo by Kevin Berne
A.C.T. 2015
CAST
BRENDA MEANEY
AJAY NAIDU
ROBERTA MAXWELL
ANTHONY FUSCO
PEJ VAHDAT
FIRDOUS BAMJI
PHILIP MILLS
RAJEEV VARMA
VANDIT BHATT
KENNETH DE ABREW
MIKE RYAN
MARY BAIRD
DAN HIATT
DANIELLE FRIMER
GLENN STOTT
JASON KAPOOR
KAISO HILL
NEEL NORONHA
CREATIVE TEAM
NEIL PATEL, SET DESIGN
CANDICE DONNELLY, COSTUME DESIGN
ROBERT WIERZEL, LIGHTING DESIGN
DAN MOSES SCHREIER, ORIGINAL MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN
JOHN CARRAFA, CHOREOGRAPHY
JANET FOSTER, CSA, CASTING
YEHRIN TONG, ORIGINAL ARTWORK
NANCY BENJAMIN, DIALECT COACHING
JONATHAN RIDER, FIGHT DIRECTION
A.C.T. 1999
CAST
FIRDOUS BAMJI
TOM BLAIR
DAVID CONRAD
KATHRYN CROSBY
SHELLY DESAI
SUSAN GIBNEY
KEN GRANTHAM
STEVEN ANTHONY JONES
ANIL KUMAR
ART MALIK
ROXANNE RAJA
DILEEP RAO
BRIAN KEITH RUSSELL
CHRISTOPHER RYDMAN
ADRIANA SEVAN
JEAN STAPLETON
ADAM SUDEMAN
AMIR TALAI
CREATIVE TEAM
LOY ARCENAS, SCENERY
WALKER HICKLIN, COSTUMES
FRANCES ARONSON, LIGHTING
MICHAEL ROTH,
ORIGINAL MUSIC/SOUND SCORE
GARTH HEMPHILL, SOUND DESIGN
PAUL WALSH, DRAMATURG
DEBORAH SUSSEL, DIALECT CONSULTANT
ELLIE KLOPP, MOVEMENT CONSULTANT
GREGORY E. HOFFMAN, FIGHT DIRECTOR
MERYL LIND SHAW, CASTING
JUDY DENNIS, N.Y. AND L.A. CASTING
RICK ECHOLS, HAIR AND MAKEUP
ROB MELROSE, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
ROUNDABOUT 2015
CAST
FIROUS BAMJI
BILL BUELL
NICK CHOKSI
ROMOLA GARAI
ROSEMARY HARRIS
NEAL HUFF
CAROLINE LAGERFELT
OMAR MASKATI
TIM MCGEEVER
BRENDA MEANEY
PHILIP MILLS
AJAY NAIDU
BHAVESH PATEL
LEE AARON ROSEN
RAJEEV VARMA
RAJESH BOSE
VANDIT BHATT
CLAIRE BROWNELL
MARK DAVID WATSON
CREATIVE TEAM
NEIL PATEL, SET DESIGN
CANDICE DONNELLY, COSTUME DESIGN
ROBERT WIERZEL, LIGHTING DESIGN
DAN MOSES SCHREIER, ORIGINAL MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN
JOHN CARRAFA, CHOREOGRAPHER
JANET FOSTER, CSA, CASTING
YEHRIN TONG, ORIGINAL ARTWORK
GILLIAN LANE-PLESCIA, DIALECT COACHING
THOMAS SCHALL, FIGHT CONSULTANT
TOM WATSON, HAIR & WIG DESIGN
"Tom Stoppard, the creator of the (fictional) sisters Crewe, who are the leading characters of his “Indian Ink,” an enticing if overpacked play from 1995 that opened on Tuesday night at the Laura Pels Theater in its belated New York premiere. And no one should be disappointed by the news that Flora and Eleanor have been brought to life for the occasion by the equally exquisite Romola Garai, in her Off Broadway debut, and Rosemary Harris.
If you know your British actresses, you’ll also know that more than 50 years separate Ms. Garai and Ms. Harris, which makes it a bit odd that they should be cast as sisters, especially with Ms. Harris, who is in her 80s, portraying the younger of the two. But this is a play by Mr. Stoppard, who likes to warp and weave together different eras of history. And like many Stoppard plays, “Indian Ink” is about time, and what is lost and found or never retrieved in its rushing currents.
It is also about Anglo-Indian relations, and the distortions of thought and language that exist within that hyphenated concept; colonial subjugation and the cultural Stockholm syndrome it sometimes inspires; art as a public and private means of expression; the elusiveness of home in an international world; the niche literary industry devoted to beautiful female writers who led lives sensational or tragic (or preferably both); and the utter unreliability of recorded history.
That’s a lot of bases for one play to cover. As is his wont, Mr. Stoppard touches on them all, running from one to the other and back again, with great speed and alacrity. Yet, for once, the field seems too vast and varied to keep even his quicksilver intellect from occasionally flagging.
Unlike the similarly themed “Arcadia,” Mr. Stoppard’s 1993 masterwork, “Indian Ink” often seems stuck on its big, splashy surface when you want it to dive into the depths. But for Stoppard-addicted New Yorkers, there’s plenty to cherish. And they should thank the Roundabout Theater Company and the director Carey Perloff for finally bringing “Indian Ink” to New York."
–– BEN BRANTLEY, NEW YORK TIMES
“Rasa,” the Indian painter explains to the English poet in Tom Stoppard’s “Indian Ink,” is the classical Indian term for an artwork’s “juice. Its taste. Its essence. ... It is the emotion which the artist must arouse in you.” The American Conservatory Theater’s new take on “Ink” is steeped in rasa, so deeply in some scenes that it takes your breath away.
That restraint allows the story of the poet and the painter — Stoppard’s original concept for the piece — to emerge as the visceral essence of “Ink,” and Perloff’s actors make the most of it. Brenda Meaney, who played a smaller role in New York, is a magnetic Flora, as sensually alive as she is smart, endlessly curious and open to new experiences. As the painter Nirad Das, Firdous Bamji, who played Das’ son in the modern scenes in the ’99 production, embodies both colonial Indian deference and its percolating resentments in the ’30s as well as a passion for art that incrementally, inescapably extends to include the poet he’s painting."
–– ROBERT HURWITT, SF CHRONICLE
INDIAN INK, Rosemary Harris, Romola Garai, A.C.T., 2015
The New York Times; Photo by Sara Krulwich
Roberta Maxwell in American Conservatory Theater's production of Tom Stoppard's INDIAN INK
Photo by Kevin Berne