It is always satisfying to see a medium exploited to its fullest. With Behind the Beautiful Forevers the news is doubly welcome because the man behind the production is Rufus Norris, soon to be the director of the National Theatre.
This piece has it all. The topic is current, global, and socially complex. This story of a Mumbai slum community in the shadow of the city’s airport makes explicit the costs of economic growth and unpacks the story at a human level. The characters are interesting, believable, and never patronised. The production, and most particularly the set, buzzes with energy. The poverty, the rubbish, the pollution, are inescapable but never romanticised or allowed to dominate the human story.
Slumdog Millionaire meets Bleak House. The foreground is people struggling to make their lives. The background is an environment of corruption and indifference with not only fails to support them, but contributes to their exploitation.
Engaging and thought provoking. Until 5 May.