Bay Area Drama Company (BAD) begins their season with a tribute to the late Girish Karnad with a play Boiled Beans on Toast that is an ode to his city – Bangalore. The comedy traces the interwoven lives of half-a-dozen people who have opted to live in Bangalore. They are very different from each other, belong to widely divergent social strata, and come from different geographical areas. Starting under a single roof, these lives branch out in various directions, get entangled in the swirl of life outside where they lose track of themselves, they separate or unexpectedly collide and careen off each other.
The city is Bangalore but anyone familiar with life in a modern Indian megalopolis will instantly respond to this portrayal of urban aspirations, conflict, blind groping and violence. An upper crust housewife who bemoans the felling of a favorite tree to widen a road; a wide-eyed small town dweller who seeks his fortune in the city’s outsourcing industry and a clever, resourceful maidservant with a tenuous relationship with morality. What we have is modern city life in its many shadow-shapes, funny, tender, moving, relentless in its pursuit of success, buffeted by ceaseless emotional flux.
Boiled Beans on Toast is directed by Sindu Singh who shines a spotlight on Karnad’s signature wit, sarcasm and searing humor, as the play examines urbanization, modernization and the ensuing impact on average city folk across social classes
Opening night Sep. 6, 8 p.m.Sep. 6 to 14. Six shows.
Lohman Theater, Foothill College, Los Altos Hills.TICKETS: $26 to $46. www.bayareadrama.company. (408) 458-9375