27.39°C The Mercury Theatre’s second space is on a roll at the moment, with touring productions offering evenings of joy, thoughtfulness and human stories. Enter this wonderful Beyond Face production, written and performed by the excellent Saikat Ahamed. It radiates warmth, loss, memories and a love of theatre and creativity.
In Venice, Saikat is on holiday with his family and goes in search of the Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni, in whose play The Venetian Twins he made his professional theatre debut. However, he is also grieving his father’s death a year earlier, and is, in truth, searching for his father, who he feels was absent from the rituals and traditions observed after his passing.
From the opening moments, Saikat proves to be a warm and welcoming performer. Aldo Vazquez’s superb Venetian-inspired set allows both performer and script to flow seamlessly. Written from the heart, Saikat generously shares his own. Drawing from deep personal experience, he has created a work of art that resonates universally, even though it is deeply rooted in his life and Muslim faith.
We learn a great deal about his father, a man who loved MGM musicals. The most powerful sequence comes when, in accordance with tradition requiring burial within 24 hours, Saikat must wash his father’s body. It is beautifully and quietly moving, yet imbued with the signature humour that runs throughout the play. After purchasing an old tourist guide to Venice, with the letter “G” circled in various places to offer clues to Goldoni, Saikat instead finds his grief, and finds his father. He comes to understand that his father is within him and present everywhere, just as Saikat is now a father to his own children.
Joel Daniel’s movement direction shines in an MGM-inspired musical tribute to Saikat’s dad, and to fathers everywhere. Aliz Harris’s deft direction ensures the show never slips into self-pity. A gentle sense of distance draws the audience in rather than pushing them away. The play becomes a warm embrace, encouraging us to reflect on our own families and loved ones.
An outstanding production; one of the finest explorations of loss I have ever seen.
