‘The Undying’ – play about grandmother rediscovering youth through a reverse aging pill
Writer Rea Dennhardt Patel talks to us about this award spotlit comedy with dark undertones…
IMAGINE you are in you are 85 and someone hands you a pill, claiming it will give you the strength and vigour of someone half your age – would you take it?
This is the intriguing premise of a new production coming to Soho Theatre early next month.
Called ‘The Undying’, it is written by Rea Dennhardt Patel and is inspired by her East African Gujarati homemaker grandmother.
It was shortlisted for Soho Theatre’s Tony Craze Award (formerly Soho Young Writers’ Award) and was nominated for The Theatre Blacklist (which showcases work from new writers of colour).
There are two characters in ‘The Undying’ – married elderly couple, Amba and Prav.
“I wondered what would happen if my (late) grandmother and grandfather got hold of a pill and it is a reverse ageing pill,” revealed writer Patel to www.asianculturevulture.com.
“My late grandmother brought up all her grandchildren and I lived with her (as part of a family group) in Palmers Green (North London). She always had these opinions on what we should be doing.
“You don’t see these sorts of people in the theatre but you see them everywhere in real life.
“‘The Undying’ would be if your grandmother’s still alive and suddenly walks in and she’s 45, what would she do?
“She wants to do the kind of things she never did.”
In the play, set in the present or near future, the couple don’t take the pill together at the same time – Amba is more adventurous – in more ways than one…
She finds herself at 45 and dealing with today’s personal issues and while the two love each other deeply, problems surface and their relationship takes on a different dimension.
“It’s funny. They wouldn’t ever hurt each other but they do bicker – because they have been together so long and you can tell an Indian wrote it,” Patel chuckled.
The play is directed by Imy Wyatt Corner, who is of mixed heritage and has been at the helm of different plays by Asian writers.
Patel has an interesting backstory herself – studying Maths and Economics first at Cambridge University and then going onto complete a Master’s in Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE) & Political Science.
She went into the City for some 10 years and worked as an investment analyst.
While she was always interested in writing and being a writer, family and society pressures pushed her in another direction.
“I did do English A level,” she pointed out. “But I did all the other ones because my parents wanted me to.”
It’s a not an unfamiliar story – many South Asian creatives have this dilemma – when choosing career paths – earn good money, get a career and satisfy everyone else’s expectations…your own (in these cases often) just get left behind.
She went abroad to Germany, worked there, got married and the pull of writing remained – she can write in German too and was shortlisted for a prestigious writing prize there.
“I was just so tired and bored with working in finance.
“I cared about books, not money and I wanted to get up every day and do something I liked doing.”
She started to take evening classes and had short stories published and gained a place at the University of East Anglia’s much lauded creative writing course.
She continued to hone her craft as a writer and was on the new writers programme at the Royal Court Theatre in London – her initial efforts were grand and sweeping and frankly speaking, she admitted, unrealistic as an emerging writer.
She has been on several courses and writing programmes and entered competitions designed to nurture new and emerging playwrights but this is first debut production.
Off the strength of all this, she launched her own outfit – The Fridge Factory – and mounted the play in a pub at The Old Lion in Islington – a common venue for many first and fledgling productions. It went well – the small theatre sold out and reviews were positive.
She applied to get Arts Council England backing and was successful. She’s hoping that she will be able to take ‘The Undying’ on a UK tour this year.
Earlier, she also put ‘The Undying’ on at The Bush Theatre in West London after rehearsing at New Diorama in London, which supports new writers.
We come back to Amba and her inspiration for ‘The Undying’.
“Amba is thinking, ‘I am 85 and I spent a lot of time at home’ and she just wants to kind of do the things that she never did.”
Listing
‘The Undying’ by Rea Dennhardt Patel, on Monday, February 9 & Tuesday, February 10 6.45pm Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE
https://sohotheatre.com/events/the-undying/
