SLEEPING BEAUTY

A Bollywood Fairytale (Review by Shika Budhoo)

Sleeping Beauty, A Bollywood Fairy Tale written by Varshan Sookhun and directed and choreographed by Shivani Kara ran at the Suncoast Zone this September 2010. The piece was an appropriated version of the original story of Sleeping Beauty. With lovely Bollywood dance and some western mixes, the show brought a unique blending of styles in this version of Sleeping Beauty. With detailed set changes and distinctive dominating costume, the stage was coloured with interesting shapes and strong prolonged visuals. The cast was full of energy and the sections of dances which continued the story had a vibrancy that was both entertaining as well as skilfully carried out by the dancers on stage.

I was slightly confused by the change of markers from the original version of Sleepy Beauty to this version. The version I remember included: a princess’s christening and an unwanted evil witch casting a spell on the beautiful princess. The spell cast ensured the princess would die by injuring herself with a spindle after she turned sixteen. In the original version the good fairies cast another spell to put her into a deep sleep instead when that day eventually arrived, and the Queen banished the use of spindles in the kingdom. When she does injure herself on a spindle she falls into a very deep sleep, and the good fairies cast a spell over everyone in the whole castle to sleep, to rise only when the sleeping princess wakes, after her true love wakes her with a kiss.

The original version follows that the prince happens to arrive, finds the princess, kisses her and wakes her - along with her whole kingdom - in the process. The only real baddie in the original story was the evil fairy.

In the version presented at Suncoast Zone, Sleeping Beauty, A Bollywood Fairytale, Sookhun included many many different twists and turns, with many more and other levels of evil and love. Backstabbing and power is the order of the day in both kingdoms portrayed in the story and the battle between good and evil takes precedence when the throne of the kingdom is at jeopardy. At times, parts of the show resembled the ups and downs of a typical Bollywood soapie, like the deliberate heightened moments enjoyed in a popular tv drama.

It was different and interesting to watch how each character was acted in a different theatre style, some more dramatic than others, some more casual and a few truly comedic. The sound was not on top form the night I watched, with mics being the major problem. Despite a few minor lighting problems, the lighting design was apt for this dance and drama piece. I found writer, Varshan Sookhun’s own smooth DJ voice does make the listening easier during the lengthy blackouts between scenes and the extended voice-overs, which affected the potential to increase the pace of delivery of the story. The choice of music was superb, I found myself a luke-warm Bollywood fan, singing along to the classic and popular Bollywood tunes. - Shika Budhoo