Upstairs Downstairs: Free Outgoing

Date	Time	Venue	Notes	Prices	Booking Link
Dates in July
Wed 2 Jul 2008	12:00am		Jerwood Theatre Downstairs

Reviews

4 stars Nicholas De Jongh, Evening Standard, Monday 14th July

VERY INDIAN SCANDAL AT FREE OUTGOING

“In 80 minutes and nine scenes treading delicate lines between comedy and pathos Chandrasekhar shines a light on the city of Chennai, where water keeps running out and the quality of mercy falls dangerously below humanity-level.

When teenage Deepa, who remains an unseen suffering presence, has been suspended from school for after-hours sex in the classroom, her rebellious 16-year-old brother, Sharan, and her widowed accountant mother, Malini, struggle to resist the importunings of encamped television reporters and a tenants’ association that gives them a day’s notice.

Desperate though the situation is, notes of rueful humour keep being heard. Malini imagines she can somehow discover her long-lost brother on the internet. Will her accountant colleague, the creepy, sexually dubious Ramesh, give a disguised Deepa refuge in his mother’s home? But the forces of intolerance win out. In Indhu Rubasingham’s beautifully poised production of this important play Lolita Chakrabarti’s Malini makes a powerful, heartfelt impression as the conflicted mother, eventually beaten down by the forces of darkness.”

Lyn Gardner, Observer, Thursday July 10th

“Anupama Chandrasekhar’s Free Outgoing is a Royal Court’s single espresso: short and pungent. A Chennai schoolgirl is filmed having sex with a classmate: when the images are broadcast, her family is regarded as ruined.

The co-existence of conservative values and hi-tech looks paradoxical at first. But Indhu Rubasingham’s production unwinds at a pace that carries you along, and has a strong central performance by Lolita Chakrabarti. It ends on a clever surprise and contains a shrewd embodiment of that apparent paradox in a piece of casting. Shaheen Khan skilfully doubles as traditional neighbour, all sari and spite, and poisonous bouffant-haired telly presenter. Hard to say whether the repressive or the blaring profile is more disagreeable.” 4 stars Sarah Hemming, Financial Times, Sunday 13th July

“Chandrasekhar’s witty play (first shown at the Theatre Upstairs) astutely dramatises a changing India, pinpointing the clash between traditional values and enthusiasm for new technology. When she learns of Deepa’s transgression, Malini rages around the flat destroying all the gadgets that represent the invasion of western immorality. But it is too late; the genie is out of the bottle. And without ever moving outside the flat, Chandrasekhar depicts a society riven with contradictions: two pupils were involved in “the act”, only one is hounded; everyone has a mobile but the water comes on a lorry; moral opprobrium mixes with salacious interest; notoriety becomes celebrity.

The play fields a wonderful central part in Malini, which Lolita Chakrabarti’s fine performance embraces. She portrays a resourceful, spirited woman who is gradually ground down into offering a cowed plea for forgiveness on national television. The play skilfully homes in on hypocrisy and enthusiasm for scandal. Malini’s creepy colleague (excellent Raj Ghatak) can’t resist a peep at the notorious schoolgirl and the audience is tantalised. We long to see Deepa and are denied: a smart move in a smart play.”