THEATRE 
REVIEWS
Bollywood Jane
West Yorkshire Playhouse
Leeds
ENGLAND
A pity
Bollywood conjures up glamour, but a drab piece of theatre emerges at the West Yorkshire Playhouse as Bollywood Jane takes the stage. The story centres round a run down cinema in Yorkshire run by two Indian men, one of whom befriends a troubled white teenager, who then experiences fantasies of Bollywood showing the contrast between her life and that on screen.
Jane, played by Nichola Burley, takes the stage with her mother Kate, played by Katherine Dow Blyton, and they start to deliver their lines in a Yorkshire accent, now, that is not a problem, but their speed of delivery is. The mother controls the diction and delivery as the play progresses, but Jane's words are never quite clear and their meaning is lost. From there on the play by Amanda Whittington never gets to grips with its musical background which is dropped in from time to time to help the plot along.
Katherine Dow Blyton and Nichola Burley confront
At times we have a cinema screen above the players showing a Indian film, making it very difficult for the eye to take in the atmosphere of the picture house below. Then players can be seen gathering behind the scenery before they are whisked round on the revolving stage to give us a dance routine in the Bollywood style. The dancers drawn from the local community then gave their all to much acclaim. The music by Grant Olding is mind catching and gives a genuine feel to the atmosphere, but these interludes are short lived and infrequent.
The set by Colin Richmond is very bare and basic and the lighting needs some attention in the aisles as the glare from the spots gives flash back to the audience; some covers would prevent this. This then is the set that director Nikolai Foster has at his disposal to get the best from his actors, with the script that he has at his disposal. The result is like the set, bare and basic.
The audience sat quiet and concentrated on the dialogue and cheered and whistled after the dance numbers, but what will they remember of their night out at the theatre? The story is not up to the music and the image. A pity, an opportunity lost. The saris in the foyer give back what the show lacked in glamour. © BA
“Bollywood Jane” is in Leeds on the 2nd June until the 30th June, 2007. Council car parking charge £1 from 5.30pm until 10pm. This is a No Smoking theatre.
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