Theatre Review For “The Deranged Marriage”
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On the 1st of July I and my drama class went to see “The Deranged Marriage” by Pravesh Kumar in theatre royal, Stratford. The play was a satirical comedy portraying Asian life in the Asian community and the struggles and pressures of arranged marriages. The play was set in slough and was based on two Asian families preparing for their children to marry each other, using an arranged marriage.
I thought the play was written well, and portrayed Asian life and the Asian community very well using a range of characters. Throughout the play the set design was kept the same as it did not need to be changed, and there was only one scene as all the sections of the play flowed into each other.
Throughout the play there were a total of around eleven characters. The main characters were the bride, groom, both the mothers in law, the brides two best friends, and the brides mother in laws friend, and her son.
I think one of the most developed characters in the whole of the play was Kiran one of the brides best friend. I felt that she was most developed because she sustained her character throughout the play at times when some of the other characters lost their Asian accents and their concentration so therefore lost their eye contact and facial expressions like the brides mother when she was talking to her love interest. I also felt that Kiran was also the best developed because I thought that her character and her characters actions could not have been more developed unlike some of the other characters who could have perhaps have had more movements and dialogue but I think this should have been done by the writer and not the actors.
Kirans character was also important to the play because she was very desperate to get married and looked at every opportunity to find an Asian man, especially the brides mothers love interest. Kirans desperation showed the pressures of marriage because she mentioned that she was older than the bride showing that she was under a lot of pressure to get married.
Throughout the play the actors all had their posture very straight and upright which signified the fact that Asian people especially the parents are very proud, also shown by the fact that brides mothers friend( the brides cousins mother) throughout the play said that her son was a doctor showing that success is expected of Asian families.
The relationship between the brides cousin and his white, English wife( Jennie) is very strong and the fact that there is a lot of love between them is very obvious because she tries to get involved as much as she can . The fact that she tries to be involved in the family shows that she really must love her husband to go to such lengths to impress her husbands family and be included creating a bond in their relationship. Jennies efforts are shown by her spending a lot of time with her husbands family to get involved in their traditions and cultures even though they are very different to hers. This strengthens the bond which is shown later in the play towards the end when Jennie and her husband talk about their relationship, dance and have a kiss which shows and proves to the audience and his family that they love each other very much.
In Asian families especially the women in the family it is seen that white women and other races are bad influences and “Trash”, which is made obvious quite early in the play where Jennies husbands mother asks why he married Jennie and that he should have married an Asian girl. She also says that he should have married an Asian girl because they do not smoke, drink alcohol etcetera because they are
“good” and are not “Cheap” like other raced girls (White) . Whilst they are talking Sonah the bride is standing on a sep behind her smoking, but then Jennie walks in and puts it out for her with her husbands help and tries to cover the smell, but as she is putting the cigarette her mother in law walks in an immediately assumes that Jennie was smoking because of her race. This again shows that the Asian community are very proud and religious-example no smoking or drinking.
The fact that Jennies mother disapproves of her is shown at that moment by the mother in laws facial expressions of disappointment and superiority.
I felt that the play was directed very well because it showed the focus very well and entertained the audience however if I were to direct it I would have perhaps shown more of the surroundings that they live and their approach to their society to show the contrast between British and Asian communities.
The set at the beginning of the play really engaged me because it was different and I didnt know what it was making it unpredictable. The set at the start of the play was of many steps and stairs leading acroos the stage from the left to the right, at the top of the stairs there was a metal frame with muslin over it, as a bedroom. There was also a wardrobe on the right on the stage and ladders at the left of the stage. This set really interested me because I had no idea of what kind of introduction there would be, however I also expected lots of levels because of ladders and steps.
The play was not broken up into scenes so there was