Guru of Chai

Guru of Chai
By Jacob Rajan. Indian Ink Theatre Company. Oz Asia Festival. Space Theatre, Adelaide. October 25 – 27, 2018

Guru of Chai was story telling at its very best. One man, a simple stage, a story that twisted and turned, a few special effects, live music and sound effects, a little bit of magic and some shadow puppetry.

The result was more than a dozen characters and a story that tugged at our hearts, made us laugh and filled us with gratitude, both for being able to sit entranced for one and a half hours and for our own lives.

Jacob Rajan changes physically and vocally in a nano second and the power of the human imagination believes that there are seven sisters, a big policeman, a man with no thumbs and that the moon talks, that a parrot is a guardian angel and that we are sitting in Bangalore Railway Station. Rajan’s script evokes places and situations and involves the audience in this world.

In a world where there are all the bells and whistles of modern stage effects, sets and lights, this production took us back to the essence of all performance – story telling. Aided by his ‘mute’ musician and straight man, David, who also provided other sound effects and also the light from a hand-held torch for some shadow puppetry – this show reminded me that the most important thing is the story; you don’t actually need much else.

Guru of Chai reminded us all that we are human, that we share more than we differ and that we all have only one life and that it is a dreadful thing to waste it.

Sally Putnam

Photographer: Robert Catto

Read more OzAsia Reviews

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.