Off balance

OneWorld UK

By Daniel Nelson

A Fine Balance is moving, shocking, funny. Thats Rohinton Mistrys spellbinding novel. Unfortunately, the play of the book (at the Hampstead Theatre, London) is not as good.

Nothing short of a miracle, the Sunday Telegraph is quoted as saying during the plays first sell-out run last year.

To have captured the books vitality and complexity would indeed have been a miracle. For a few wonderful minutes, as Shankar the beggar collars the audience and a group of tailors demand tea and discuss life, I thought it was going to do so. But the scale and inventiveness of Mistrys canvas defeats the adapters.

A play based on a book, however, has to stand on its own, not be judged by its faithfulness to the original. It is helped by a simple, excellent set and delightful touches, such as the animal puppets, and hindered by uneven acting and some confusion in the doubling up of actors.

Its main failing is that the busyness of the storyline doesnt leave enough time to flesh out the characters.

Even sothis is a chance to feel a touch of India not India-as-a-reflection- of-Britain, which is what we are usually offered, but the harsh India of Indira Gandhis Emergency, complete with political thuggery, the humanity and resourcefulness of ordinary people, the richness and arbitrary unfairness of life.

That alone makes this production by the enterprising Tamasha theatre company worth seeing.

* A Fine Balance is at the Hampstead Theatre (7722 9301) on 4-21 April.