The Factory Space Theatre Company

A Perfect Ganesh

by

Terrence McNally


Cast & Crew
James Lugton Kath Perry Adrian Snodgrass Damian Smith Helen Tonkin
Hecate - Design
Costumes - Sue Halmagyi
Roz Riley - Director
Review by Greg Webster (preview performance, june)
Gail and I had a really good night at the FS Production of The Perfect Ganesha on Sunday Night. We spent the entire journey home discussing the play ahd the ideas it generated. We were entertained and educated.
A Perfect Ganesha is a well moving play with lots of opportunity for strong character development. The humour was introduced.realistically and endeared the audience to the plot.
The Ganesha character was scripted to play the parts he did to represent the aspects of the Ganesh spirit in the world. I didn't get that logic from the watching of the play. I suggest future productions include a prop to help make this obvious - a smaller raised trunk and ears. The change of masks could be achieved in Ganesha's opening dialogue.
Either that or an 'I am Ganesha' vest ... Never underestimate the mental thickness of the audience. Such tools, used to gain popular success, need not corrupt the integrity of the play.
Another point, of distraction for me was the ethnicity of the lead female characters. eferences to Rajasthan / Canterbury plains, Seagulls on Kirribilli Pier, America being the land of opportunity and the pervasive British elocution all led to us not being able to fully empathise with the characters. All romance aside, an audience likes to be able to pigeon hole a character and support or argue against the actionsa charactrer takes. this is most easily achieved through ethnicity. On the production front, props were great and well used. I liked the use of vests, crates and costume in scene setting. i think however that prop changes, and here i mean the crates mainly, should have been done with less theatrics and more haste.

Recipe for a wild and wonderful night of theatre
Take one Hindu god with an elephant's head;
one many-splendored rat on which to ride; one gay but angry ghost;
and two american women with problems galore.
Add a little touch of Harry in the night.
Stir well,
moisten with the holy water of the Ganges and bake under the Indian sun.
The result is A Perfect Ganesh

The Hindu God, Ganesh, with his lovely elephant’s head is revered as the lord of obstacles and reconciler of opposites. But now he has a big problem to solve: two American women want to find healing and happiness in a trip to India. They know each other well, but are as fundamentally opposed as fire and water. So, helped – and hindered – by the rat on which he rides, Ganesh creates and populates an Indian experience of dream, vision and flashback. He plays quizzically with words and national identity, while his Rat plays the lunatic, the lover and the fool – all combined in a passionate Indian patriot, hater of the Raj and all its representatives
The Author – Terrence Mc Nally
Nominated for the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for A Perfect Ganesh. (which is his favourite play). His plays Master Class and Love! Valour! Compassion! won the Tony Award for Best New Play. Other plays include Corpus Christi, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Lisbon Traviata, The Ritz, It's Only A Play and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.

Proudly supporting LifeStart - (registered charity for children with multiple disabilities)

All proceeds from Thursday 5th December are donated to LifeStart.
A Perfect Ganesh - photographed by John Reeves
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