Renowned British Indian actor of stage and screen Meera Syal adds another triumph to her theatrical repertoire as matriarch Queenie in ‘A Tupperware of Ashes’, a new play by Tanika Gupta now running until mid-November at the National Theatre in London.
A determined and ambitious widow who has overcome the many challenges of her migrant life in England to become a Michelin-Star chef in London finds herself gradually losing her grip over reality. Her children grappling with the demands of their own busy lives – Raj (Raj Bajaj), Kamala (Natalie Dew) and Gopal (Marc Elliott) – are soon faced with an impossible choice. Their Kolkata-born mother’s wishes are crystal clear even as a dementia diagnosis turns her life otherwise upside down: she does not want to end up in a sterile care home.
Despite the best efforts of her best friend Indrani (Shobna Gulati) and with the Covid lockdown throwing any remaining semblance of normality into disarray, Queenie finds herself exactly where she had dreaded ending up – bereft in the company of sympathetic carer Pavel (Stephen Fewell). It is no wonder that she is desperate to hold on to the voices in her head as her beloved husband Ameet (Zubin Varla) insists on intruding her memories from beyond the grave.
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Will Queenie get her dying wish of her ashes being immersed in the holy Ganges river of her birthplace or will the red tape of getting their mother to her chosen resting place prove insurmountable for her very British children?
This poignant tale of immigrant life and the spiritual cycle of death and rebirth packs a punch with its very perceptive storytelling and solid performances. With the title giving away the very core of this heart-breaking tale, one wonders if the play would have benefitted from a more innocuous title. Nevertheless, the outcome is much laughter and lots of tears as Queenie floats away into the arms of her beloved, to the tunes of Nitin Sawhney’s haunting melodies.
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The playwright draws upon her own Bengali upbringing in London for this family drama, which under Pooja Ghai’s direction and the clever lighting of the sparse set very deftly flows in and out of Queenie’s past and present to create a rather visceral impact for audiences.
*Info: ‘A Tupperware of Ashes’
