Chasing Hares at the Young Vic

As the threat of further industrial action looms in the UK, Sonali Bhattacharyya’s new work about organised worker resistance to economic precarity couldn’t be more resonant. Chasing Hares is an impassioned probing of political activism and allegory that only falters when sentimentality and heavy-handedness override it.

In West Bengal in the 00s, rebellious, idealistic dreamer Prab (Irfan Shamji) and his wife, Kajol (Zainab Hasan), struggle to raise their daughter, Amba. Both have endured longterm unemployment since the local factory closed, and Kajol longs for Prab to keep his union leadership secret from prospective employers. Yet his skills as a revisionist storyteller of the great Hindu epics gains the attention of a jatra (Bengali folk theatre), run by an arrogant, nasty son of the factory owner (Scott Karim) and the independent, sharp-tongued actor, Chellam (Ayesha Dharker). As his creative talents gain him rare promotion when the factory reopens, Prab finds his conscience caught between loyalty to his family or his fellow exploited workers.

Despite the bleakness of its circumstances (backdropped by designer Moi Tran’s clinical, angular set that distinctly evokes an abattoir), wit and warmth are always simmering in Bhattacharyya’s script. The dialogue can be clunky, but it’s more than made up for by the earnest, energised small ensemble, who have real chemistry on-stage. Shamji is very endearing as the affable lead, allowing his dreamy whimsicalness to play off against Hasan’s tough, pragmatic wife and Dharker’s astute, sardonic diva. Karim also has convincing swagger and privileged disdain, even if the script seems to look for opportunities to give the audience a chance to “boo-hiss-boo” at him.

It’s when the ethical dilemmas regarding personal and political commitments are allowed to sizzle between Prab and his interlocutors (Kajol and Chellam) that the play really begins to excite. Situated between vibrant, revolving spectacles and intense strobe flashes, director Milli Bhatia affords these exchanges some stillness for the actors to really strike a chord. Less effective, however, is Akhila Krishnan’s digital shadow puppetry, projected onto the brutal-looking set – creating illustrated, picturesque utopias, just as Prab reconfigures traditionalist patriarchal tales into inspiring, communitarian stories of rebellion. It’s a touch too trite for an otherwise provocative, reflexive production.

Likewise, Chasing Hares loses much of its subtlety and tension as it moves towards a predictable, sickly resolution. While its admirable, pronounced advocacy of solidarity and resistance will resonate powerfully in a time when workers’ rights are being eroded, the play sacrifices some nuance in both its writing and characterisation to declare its message loudly at the audience.

James Humphrey
Photo: Isha Shah

Chasing Hares is at the Young Vic from 18^th July until 13^th August 2022. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.