Saturday, May 10, 2008

Rafta, Rafta...

"Scott Elliott's production of Ayub Khan-Din's "Rafta, Rafta ...,"
which opened last night at the Acorn Theater, is intimate in a way
that prying video cameras can never be. Set in a working-class
neighborhood of transplanted Indian families in Bolton, England, this
tale of a beleaguered honeymoon exposes its characters' foibles, and
very little of their flesh, with gentleness and compassion," says a
New York Times review.

"And the plot of "Rafta, Rafta ...," adapted from "All in Good Time,"
a Bill Naughton comedy from the 1960s, sounds like an extended blue
joke, or the basis for a sniggery sitcom: Young man takes virginal
bride home to live with the family, then finds himself unable to
consummate the marriage because Mom, Dad and Little Brother keep
interrupting and distracting him.

The title translates from Hindi as "slowly, slowly." And this
production understands it takes time for people to get to know and
accept one another. That includes an audience and a set of onstage
characters. In an era of faster-is-better entertainment "Rafta, Rafta
..." is notable for its winningly slow hand," writes the reviewer Ben
Brantley in this review titled, "No Sex, Please, We're British
Indians."

For those that enjoy theater, this promises to be a good show...

Read the full review at--
http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?emc=tnt&tntget=2008/05/09/theater/reviews/09raft.html&tntemail0=y

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