Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Shayok Misha Chowdhury’s PUBLIC OBSCENITIES successfully transfers to TFANA, superb cast in tow

• By drediman
• February 4, 2024
• No Comments

This past weekend, I revisited Shayok Misha Chowdhury’s fascinating new play Public Obscenities at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center, courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience (as well as the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company down in Washington, DC). I had first seen the Soho Rep and NAATCO National Partnership Project production when it played at the tiny Walkerspace in downtown Manhattan. I’m happy to report that in its larger digs in Brooklyn, the sprawling play – about an interracial gay couple who find themselves navigating romantic and familial relationships during a trip to India – still possesses the alluring qualities that I found so intoxicating the first time around.

In short, Chowdhury’s drama is a many-splendored thing, but in the subtlest of ways. Because it takes its time unfolding (the work is spread luxuriously over a running time of three hours), the piece takes on a Chekhovian air that has the qualities of life as lived in the moment. As such, its shifts in mood are organically wrought, often leading to unpredictable spikes in circumstantial humor and tension. This is not to say that the play is devoid of themes to chew on – they’re just gently and unobtrusively weaved in and out of scenes. For example, I found myself mulling over the notions of language and translation, the comedy of errors that is inter-generational/cultural communication, and the reconciliation between one’s queer identity and heritage – but never in a way that detracted from the work’s naturalism. The end result is a tapestry that thoroughly wraps itself around the audience with its richness. If that means the play meanders occasionally, so be it. I found the humanity on display fully sufficient to captivate me.

As I mentioned, Public Obscenities has transferred successfully, expanding gracefully to fill the larger proscenium setup at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center. Although a part of me misses the immersive intimacy of the staging at Walkerspace, the play’s delicacy thankfully remains intact, thanks largely to the efforts of the superb cast and Chowdhury’s instinctual direction (the staging isn’t completely naturalistic; the scenes are accented by beguiling theatrical flourishes that enhance the script). As far as the acting is concerned, the cast gives a truly symbiotic ensemble effort that held me rapt from beginning to end. At this point in their journey with the play, each actor is fully attuned to the nuances of their respective character, and it showed.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

PUBLIC OBSCENITIES
Off-Broadway, Play
Theatre for a New Audience
3 hours, 5 minutes (including one intermission)
Through February 18