Drama, angst and plenty of comedy

The English play Jai and Juliet was recently performed at the NCUI Auditorium.

The play was an improvised and adapted version of the famous 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, called the ‘The Odd Couple’.

It was a comedy of opposites, presenting the crazy entanglement of two divorced friends, and what happens when they’re forced to live together.

While one is a middle-aged, slovenly ad film maker, the other is a hypochondriac and a fastidious news writer, whose marriage is ending.

The added stories of four poker maniacs and two women flirting with the divorced friends creates more funny moments. Two completely contrasting characters — Jai and Juliet — drive each other crazy to the point that one is after the other’s life.

The character of Rags, or Jai, and Kiran Chaturvedi, or Juliet, are two of the funniest characters of all time stage performances. Tarun Singhal, an IIT Delhi alumnus, plays Raghavendra Vajapayee or Rags, while Diptanshu Upadhyay plays the role of Kiran, or K C.

Tarun Singhal, the president of ‘Desires Unlimited Drama Society’, the group which put up the play, said, “My character in the play is mad about poker. It was very interesting to observe indulgence of people when it comes to poker, which gave us the idea to come up with this play. We also try to convey the daily life problems of a couple in our comic way.

We have already performed this play in Bangalore and now we are in Delhi.”

The director of the play, Avinash Anand, plays the role of Raman, one of the couple’s friends. The script has been well written and performed. The characters of Kukumina and Kakoli, two Bengali sisters played by Vaidehi Vishwasrao and Prashanti Singh respectively, were also appreciated by the crowd and their raucous laughs on the stage made the crowd fall in love with their characters.

Tarun explains, “We never decided to come up with a professional theatre group. We used to perform on stage during our college days and soon, we realised that we have potential to pursue what we really believe in.  After leaving my job of a chemical engineer, today I am happier than I ever was before.”

All the 600 seats were booked for the show and the audience was going crazy with every dialogue. The crowd applauded the artistes for their performances. Neha Gupta, an audience member, said, “Tarun Singhal is like Shah Rukh Khan for me. I am glad I got to watch these artistes performing on stage. Their intensity and spontaneity on stage was really wonderful and I would try to watch all their performances if possible.”