BWW Reviews: Stoppard's INDIAN INK Captivatingly Blends Romance, Sensuality, Politics and Culture

It took nearly twenty years for New York to get its first look at Tom Stoppard's clever and intellectually romantic Indian Ink, but director Carey Perloff's exquisite production is certainly worth the wait.

"Biography is the worst possible excuse for getting something wrong," advises Eleanor (a devilishly wry Rosemary Harris), the sister of a famous poet, Flora, now deceased.

When the play begins in 1980s England, Eleanor is being courted for information by would-be biographer, Elton (obsessive and nerdy Neal Huff), a huge fan of Flora's work and life. Eleanor is allowing him to write footnotes for a volume of letters written by her sister during an extended 1930 stay in colonial India.

Though Elton can get the facts about geography and Indian culture correct, his informed assumptions about the more nuanced aspects of Flora's trip are what come into question when alternating scenes take us back to the poet's adventure.

Romola Garai is enchantingly vibrant and inquisitive as the accomplished young modern who at first is rather flustered by her celebrity in this unfamiliar land. But she's aware of the growing movement for self-government and wishes to immerse herself among locals who are not anglicized.

Amidst an abundance of outgoing personalities, the excellent Firdous Bamji grounds the evening with the subtle complexities of Nirad, a painter whose uneasy relationship with Flora parallels the mixture of Indian and English cultures.

In the 1980s, there are many questions regarding a nude portrait of Flora. Nirad's son Anish (Bhavesh Patel), whose father is now deceased, is convinced that Nirad was the one who painted the portrait. Eleanor offers him more information than she's willing to give Elton, and Stoppard, in his own sweet time, tells the audience more.

There is lovely atmospheric stagecraft in the fluid designs of Neil Patel (set), Robert Wierzel (lights) and Dan Moses Schreier (sound and original music), while Candice Donnelly's smart costume designs further inform us of the mixing of cultures.

Not as intellectually dense as Stoppard's most famous works, Indian Ink is a captivating blend of romance, sensuality, politics and culture.

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