Theater Review: India Pale Ale Asks Us To Cross Cultural Divides
SYNOPSIS: In a small Wisconsin town, a tight-knit Punjabi community gathers to celebrate the wedding of a traditional family’s only son, just as their strong-willed daughter announces her plans to move away and open a bar. As they come together for feasts filled with singing and dancing, one generation’s cherished customs clash with another’s modern-day aspirations, and ghosts and pirates from the family’s past linger in everyone’s thoughts—until one sudden event changes everything. This poignant and smartly funny new play about legacy, life, and longing comes from the fresh voice of Jaclyn Backhaus, who again teams up with her Men on Boats director Will Davis.
The smallest details can launch the biggest story. It is in this idea that India Pale Ale promotes how a tiny, kind interaction between different cultures can be the beginning of a different, better world. In perspective, we spend more time not knowing each other then we do getting to know the other. It is exhausting work avoiding “the other,” and India Pale Ale makes interaction as easy as eating a samosa.
Beautifully directed by Will Davis and poignantly written by Jaclyn Backhaus, India Pale Ale may present itself as a comedy but, in truth, it is a drama with a few laughs. Centering around Boz (Shazi Raja) the play finds its heart in a young woman trying to move and explore this world while never letting go of the culture and place she calls home. Though she is only moving 1 hour away from her childhood, Wisconsin home, to her family, she might as well be crossing the Bering Strait. Yet, their kinship is understandable. They are apart of a tight-knit, Indian community that has managed to protect and prosper itself by staying close in location and love. Each character is well aware that, though they are American, being Indian- American means you are often seen as a foreigner. Even the sweet, well-meaning Tim (played hilariously by Nate Miller) questions Boz over where she is from, despite, even her parents, being born here.
“What or Who is American?” is a question that floats within the two hour, 15 minute play (with intermission). You constantly wonder how a nation filled with indigenous whom were then isolated/killed by various groups of immigrants has managed to become so distorted in its self-identity. America is, literally, everyone, but racism makes sure it belongs to no one. While the first act of the play charms with legends of pirates and a langar/ Engagement Party that makes you adore the Batra family, Act Two leaves you in complete mourning, which is the point. You have to love someone to truly be saddened for their loss, and through elements of magical realism, stunning costumes by Arnulfo Maldonado, and gut-wrenching monologues Act Two pulses through your heart.
From Purva Bedi’s wisely maternal Deepa Batra to the goofy, but sweet Iggy Batra (Sathya Sridharan) every member of the Batra family steals a piece of your heart, and helps you feel Boz’s resistance to leave them. As a family, they have suffered their discriminations but also personal tragedies that left them burying a son. Thus, when the second act begins, you feel terrible that ANOTHER TRAUMA has happened to this family, and it is utterly unnecessary. There is never an excuse for a hate crime or gun violence. SORRY! NO EXCUSE! Moreover, I truly believe that such acts are not destined, but derived from the choices of weak men whom believe hurting others is their destiny. I mention this because the reason you feel gutted by the second act is that it confronts your with a question none of us ever know the answer to: Why?
Why do people kill? Why do people hate based off skin? Why can’t cultures peacefully coexist? We spend so much time explaining why we are separated that India Pale challenges us to ask, “Why are we not more united?” Could it be that, for all humanity has progressed, we have yet to grow up? Growth, as a person, is a purveying theme throughout India Pale Ale as even the loving Lovi (Lipica Shah) and the lovelorn Vishal (Nik Sadhani) must find their own voices because of the tragedy that strikes their community. Yet, as you watch each character so strongly confront their pain to heal it, you also see how a community rises. When we think of masses of people elevating their status, we have the tendency to think in material terms like, class and money. Yet, India Pale Ale shows that when your community’s history has been defined by the oppressions others have handed it, then your community must define itself according to the love and resilience it gives itself. India Pale Ale Pale At Manhattan Theatre Club Till November 18. Click Here To Buy Tickets.
Location- 131 West 55th Street
(between 6th and 7th Avenues)
New York, New York 10019
