Review Roundup: A TUPPERWARE OF ASHES at National Theatre

To 16 November, Meera Syal will perform in the world premiere of Tanika Gupta’s A Tupperware of Ashes in the Dorfman theatre. A vivid and heart-breaking family drama about life, immigration and the Indian spiritual cycle of death and rebirth to be directed by Pooja Ghai.

An ambitious Michelin-star chef, Queenie is used to having the last word. But when her children notice gaps in her memory and her grip on reality loosening, they are faced with an impossible choice. As Raj, Gopal and Kamala battle to reconcile their life-long duty to their mother, the ramifications of their decision take on a heartbreaking permanence.

Tanika Gupta and Pooja Ghai reunite for their latest collaboration, following the critically acclaimed The Empress.

The cast includes Raj Bajaj, Natalie Dew, Marc Elliott, Stephen Fewell, Shobna Gulati, Avita Jay, Meera Syal and Zubin Varla.

Director Pooja Ghai is joined on the creative team by set and Costume Designer Rosa Maggiora, lighting designer Matt Haskins, composer Nitin Sawhney, sound designer Elena Peña, illusions director and designer John Bulleid, movement director Anjali Mehra, fight and intimacy directors Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown for Rc-Annie Ltd, casting director Naomi Downham and staff director Layla Madanat. See what the critics are saying...

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Debbie Gilpin, BroadwayWorld: Although there are fewer new cases of dementia in the UK every year, it’s still the leading cause of death for both men and women - therefore it’s vital that it continues to be explored in art, as it helps to aid understanding for everyone involved. It’s also really fascinating to get a glimpse into Hindu death rituals (with accompanying modern-day red tape), as well as the ways in which religion or spirituality can provide much needed comfort. Pooja Ghai and Tanika Gupta make a fantastic creative team, and have once again come together to create a piece of work that is entertaining, informative, and affecting.

Tim Bano, The Independent: The play itself doesn’t handle its tonal shifts nearly as well. One minute we’re deep in tense family drama, and the next we’re simply being told stuff in flat, rather expository dialogue. There are educational chunks about lasting power of attorney, and interesting debates about whether to follow someone’s dying wishes. There’s a constant jolting – from epic to intimate, from comedy to tragedy, politically attuned realism to poetic fantasy – but all of it is surface-scratching.

By the inevitable end, a slightly quirky add-on about the scattering of the ashes, it’s not quite clear what the play is about anymore. The dementia stuff has faded, and the Lear thing’s been sort of forgotten. It’s all a bit of a muddle: a play of many parts, struggling to find their sum.

Anya Ryan, The Guardian: The play lays out a plethora of culturally specific complications, generational differences and big unanswerable questions, which are realistically left untied. The final scene though is spoiled by its secrets being given away in the title. A shame, as otherwise this is an arresting picture of the ripple-effect of a dementia diagnosis and the heavy grief that follows.

Time Out: The blank backdrop of Rosa Maggiora’s set from the outset has the effect of isolating all the characters prematurely, in spite of some dynamic lighting design by Matt Haskins. Looking a little like a Cy Twombly painting, its appearance and purpose only truly start to make sense quite late on, when sections threading across it begin to pulse and flash like the misfiring neurons in Queenie’s brain. We lose something of the encroaching impact of her Alzheimer’s. She’s already stranded by the set design.

Daz Gale, All That Dazzles: What is especially remarkable about Gupta’s writing is in how versatile it is. There are some incredibly funny moments in the show that had me roaring with laughter, including an unexpected but hilarious use of a certain four letter word (though the next time you hear that word is far less funny). The humour never detracts from the seriousness of the story, but humanity at its heart is about laughing and crying, and A Tupperware Of Ashes makes you do both, often within an instant of each other.

iNews, Fiona Mountford: I am all for plays having tantalising titles, but the name of this new work from Tanika Gupta constitutes more than something of a plot spoiler. It is just one of the myriad elements that misfire, that strain for gravitas yet fail to achieve it. A Tupperware of Ashesstruggles to coalesce into something with overarching impact and serves as a salutary reminder that having a character say a line and having an audience believe it are always two very different things.

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