(Pic by Val Adamson: Shika Budhoo)A perfect showcase for Shika Budhoo’s versatile skills. (Review by Caroline Smart)
Running for only a few more performances as part of the Playhouse Company’s South African Women’s Arts Festival, Shika-Land! is a perfect showcase for the skills of one of Durban’s most versatile actresses. Shika Budhoo is the voice of the popular and lovable Mrs. Singh Song on Lotus Fm’s daily soapie Lollipop Lane. She even boasts of playing a mouse - and this is true, because I directed the radio series in question!
In her engaging and lively opening, in which she explains how she came to write the play, Shika tells of her formative years when she had to get used to her name taking on various forms, depending which relative or friend was addressing her. In adulthood, she was able to Google her name and find out just how unusual it is. It actually means “deer” (as in the animal) in Japanese. She discovered a virtual city called ShikaLand! And so the ideas grew.
In Shika-Land!, we meet five entirely different women named Shika (including Shika as herself) as the actress explores the question of whether a person’s name fits their character or vice versa?
Using a hanging tower of fabric as her back-lit change-room, she sings her way through the links to emerge each time as a different persona. We meet a Rastafarian Jamaican single mother, mourning the loss of her husband while railing at the nosy neighbours. She gets her revenge on them by allowing her children to smoke which she know annoys them considerably. She’s feisty but it doesn’t hide the hurt and loneliness.
Then there’s the French girl in winter pyjamas, warmly and ungainly wrapped in a pink dressing gown with a fluffy pink scarf, glasses and a shower cap. Her mission is to write a “Dear John” letter – only in this case, it’s “Dear Johnnie”. One of her reasons for breaking up with him is that instead of flowers or chocolate, he gave her a musical mug for a present! As each crumpled failed attempt lands on the floor, she gets herself more confused.
Then we meet the beautician, rushing in to use the salon’s make-up products on her way to an all-important wedding. While her other accents are accurate, this one did tend to wander a bit from the East End of London to the Midlands.
Then it’s the charming young bride from India who finds herself in Phoenix in an arranged marriage with a rich used car salesman who she has barely met. His mother insisted that her son had a “real Hindi bride” and the young woman determines to do her family proud and be the wife they expect her to be. This character allows Shika to use her skills of sensitivity and vulnerability.
Tightly directed by her life-partner Dhaveshan Govender, Shika-Land! was originally staged in January at the 2011 Musho! Festival, where it deservedly received excellent reviews. The set comprises the four different scenarios – the Jamaican woman’s chair, the French woman’s bed, the beautician’s dressing table and the Indian bride’s chair.
Shika-Land! has performances in the Playhouse Loft tomorrow night at 20h00 and on August 7 at 18h00 Bookings on 031 369 9596. Catch it if you can! – Caroline Smart
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