NetSAP brings ‘Indian Ink’ to Boston in theater effort

Play set in colonial times, resonates with immigrants

By Erin Washington

BOSTON — The classic scenario of a romance between an artist and his model gets a twist in Tom Stoppard’s 1995 play, “Indian Ink,” playing through July 1 at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre in Boston’s South End. The play was presented in part by the Network of South Asian Professionals of Boston, a nonprofit group whose work spans professional, cultural, community and political spheres.

The character of Flora Crewe, played by Janelle Mills, is a young English poet who travels to India in 1930 after her doctor advises that a warm climate would be good for her health. After arriving in the Indian city of Jummapur, which is not under direct British rule, she soon meets Nirad Das, a young artist and painter, played by Bharat Bhushan. Crewe has a friendly and rambunctious personality, so she easily befriends Das and the other people she meets. The story is set in 1930, the same year as Gandhi’s Salt March.

Flash forward to the mid 1980s in England, where an American journalist visits Crewe’s sister, Eleanor Swan, played by Jean Sheikh, to investigate why Crewe died shortly after arriving in Jummapur. This is when a trinity of perspectives — Indian, English and American — is first represented.

Chuck Schwager, in the role of journalist Eldon Pike, portrays the stereotypical obnoxious American, and Swan refuses to divulge her sister’s most personal encounters to him. But later, when Das’s son Anish, played by Anurag Mishra, visits her, she is more at ease, despite their opposing descriptions of one of India’s independence uprisings, which she calls “the mutiny.”

Stoppard, a British Jew of Czech descent, raised in India during World War II, seems to have had the upbringing necessary to represent these three points of view in his play. There are even scenes that include dialogues in Hindi. Suneeta Gill of Cambridge, Mass., who saw the play on June 16, thought this added to the realism. “I liked the use of Hindi without the audience necessarily knowing what they were saying,” she said. “The director wasn’t afraid of putting it in there.”

Tushneem Dharmagadda, president of NetSAP-Boston, said he believes that the historical and art-related aspects of the play make it appealing. “The fact that the play is set in two time periods makes it kind of intuitive,” he said. He added that it is the investigative quality in all of us, when we look at art and want to know the story behind it, which made the play intriguing.

Although the story revolves around 1930s colonial India, some of the themes still resonate today with people who are new to a culture. There are several points in the play when Crewe asks Das to “stop being Indian,” meaning that he should try not to act stereotypically Indian.

But she also accuses Das of loving England too much, asking, “Why do you like everything English?” insinuating that it is merely because he lives under British colonial rule. Das insists that this is not the only reason. “The women here wear saris made in Lancashire,” he says. “The cotton is Indian but we cannot compete in the weaving.”

Even though Jummapur is not under direct British rule, governed instead by local rulers, the occupation still has an affect on Indian characters in the play. In one of the scenes taking place in the 1980s, one of the Indian characters remarks that India has had “40 years of independence and still we’re hypnotized.”

Summarizing the tension between cultures is the frustration and confusion many of the Indian characters have with the bombardment of English culture. “It is not my impression,” Das says, “that England’s imperial adventure is simply to buy time against revolution at home.”

On the other hand, the relationship between Das and Crewe is an open and understanding one, full of learning and mutual respect. As he paints her, he describes the love affair of Radha and Krishna, which was represented in Indian miniature paintings at this time. Avinash Padhye, by playing a character named Coomaraswami, suggests a connection with art historian Ananda Coomaraswamy, the curator of Indian and Islamic Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston from 1917 to 1947.

Dharmagadda said he decided to present “Indian Ink” because he was interested in promoting Indian culture. “Theater is a more attractive way of promoting culture,” he added, “because it presents it in a story.” Dharmagadda added that he thinks the play could be educational and entertaining for both Indian and non-Indians alike. He said it is appropriate for “whoever is interested in South Asian culture or wants to know more about it.”