At the National Theatre until November 16
Tickets: 020 3989 5455
When London-based, Michelin-starred Bengali restaurateur Queenie (Meera Syal) expresses a desire to have her ashes scattered in the Ganges, she poses an almost insurmountable problem for her children.
Queenie’s incremental deterioration due to early onset Alzheimer’s forces siblings Raj (Raj Bajaj), Kamala (Natalie Dew) and Gopal (Marc Elliott) to reunite and take over the business that she dominated for most of their lives.
Tanika Gupta’s fine play is rich with family and cultural detail, applying elements of King Lear (“Please don’t let me go mad”) and Florian Zeller’s The Father to forge her vision of an Anglo/Bengali family in crisis.
The sound of lapping waves accompany the drama as Queenie’s husband Ameet (Zubin Varla) rises from the water to urge her to join him. Except that Ameet is long dead and is persuading her to join him in the afterlife.
Director Pooja Ghai’s production frames Gupta’s beautiful and potent statement about family, evolving values and tradition with care, humanity and humour.
Moments of illusion inject an air of magic realism that heightens the spiritual journey without leaving earthbound reality. Superb performances from all, especially Syal whose decline is charted with forensic detail, Varla as the ghost-with-the-most, and the impressively versatile Stephen Fewell in five different roles.
