Testmatch - Orange Tree / Bolton Octagon

My hopes were not high for this having seen the response to the production.

But firstly, the acting from all the cast was excellent, and the blocking and staging worked very well.

The script is not so strong. In the first half, set during the present day in a rain delay of an international cricket match, the Indian and English team chat about a wide range of topics and it feels that a myriad of social issues is being rammed into 40 minutes without a clear sense of where the play is headed. So although there are scenes that work within the play, overall it feels a little unsatisfactory, and the ending of part one is deeply implausible.

Part two, set in Calcutta in the 18th century, satirises the story of the East India Company through two of its administrators based in India and has a sort of Blackadder feel. I actually preferred the second half, largely due to the acting of Bea Svistunenko, who has excellent comic timing and facial expressions, and it also felt as if this had more of a narrative. However, as the second half progresses, the narrative becomes more and more unbelievable. And the satire is not subtle and sometimes so broad, it misses its mark entirely. It is also an  overly simplistic telling of history, for example it tells the story of the key Bengal famine, in which climate and a smallpox epidemic played a critical role, but omits these facts entirely, and lays the full blame for the famine on the British. So while it seems likely the British were culpable for aspects of the famine, they were not solely responsible. Like so many things, the truth is rather more complicated.

Finally, towards the end, there is an attempt to connect the two halves of the play together but they do feel very different, and I don't really feel that worked.

For me so far not a great year at the Orange Tree, I've seen three productions - Northanger Abbey, Uncle Vanya and this, and have found them all disappointing. Whereas, the last three productions I saw in 2023 at the OT were She Stoops to Conquer, which I thought was terrific; and That Face and The Circle which I also enjoyed.