Staging a play with a plot that is pretty well-known, especially because it is one of your most popular plays, is quite a daunting task. Apart from the pressure of recreating the magic that worked so well the first few times around, there is also the need to work around the fact that there is no surprise element left anymore – the audience already knows the story! So this can only mean one thing. The only elements that you can bank on are your actors. And not to forget any little leeway there is for improvisations.
Banking on their actors is exactly what city-based theatre group Evam did when they staged The Odd Couple over the weekend as part of Omnibus, their 10th anniversary celebrations.
Simon’s script is quite predictable, as hilarious as it is. The story is about two divorced men who decide to bunk together in a New York apartment. These men are as odd as a couple can get. Oscar is sloppy, irresponsible and fun-loving. Felix, on the other hand, is a neurotic, fastidious clean freak – think Danny Tanner (Full House) and Monica Geller (Friends) in the same person. They are a part of a larger poker group, but the focus shifts on them when Oscar invites Felix to live with him as an attempt to prevent him from killing himself (he is depressed about his divorce). With their differing lifestyles clashing and the inevitable conflicts surfacing, the two-hour-long production is nothing short of a laugh riot.
TM Karthik as Felix and Karthik Kumar as Oscar leave the audience in splits. With perfect timing and extremely convincing acting, they also leave in the audience in a bit of confusion. As much as you want to fall for Kumar’s nonchalant, shabby charm, you also want to sympathise with Karthik’s quandary. Their chemistry is just unbelievably believable.
Yudhishthir Rana as Vinnie, Sunil Vishnu as Murray the cop, the wonderfully sarcastic Navin Balachandran as Roy and Bhargav Ramakrishnan as Speed, the poker gang in short, have this charming tendency to make you sink lower in your seats and enjoy the show just a bit more.
Renu Abraham and Pooja Balu as the Pigeon sisters, the girls who Oscar sets himself and Felix up on a date with, play their roles to perfection, but somehow make you wistful for the poker gang. Sunil Vishnu’s ability as a director in establishing his characters and picking just the right traits to highlight, takes the play to another level.
As much as Simon’s comedy is about two opposite people, it is also a tale of friendship. Evam’s The Odd Couple not only leaves you asking for more, but also puts you in an uncomfortable position of introspection – How many of my friendships would survive if I was put through the same predicament as Oscar and Felix?
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