EM Forster’s 1924 novel explores complex relations among and between Britons and Indians in India before the first world war; his authorial voice takes the reader into the minds of characters male and female; Christian, Hindu, Muslim and atheist. Forster’s ironic - even caustic - presentation of the British occupation of India chimes with today’s anticolonial spirit. His imagining of Indian characters and interactions, however, although intended to be sympathetic, now appears Orientalist and othering.
Simon Dormandy’s adaptation intensifies Forster’s critique of the British (characters are simplified into stilted posturings). It also reduces the complexity of the Indian characters and the number of scenes in which they feature - they become bit players whose function is to convey particular attitudes. Forster’s backgrounding to Dr Aziz’s behaviour and actions in the early scenes - when he interacts with visiting English ladies Mrs Moore and Miss Quested and with the resident schoolmaster, Fielding - is not communicated: the audience laughs as if he were a comic turn (no fault of actor Asif Khan’s delicate characterisation). A late scene, where the company impersonates worshippers at a religious celebration, comes across as cultural misappropriation.
Directors Dormandy and Sebastian Armesto present the action on an almost bare stage, with minimal props and with all the actors visible in the wings throughout. This potential-rich storytelling form is underexploited, as is Kuljit Bhamra’s live music. Committed performances (especially Khan and Liz Crowther’s Mrs Moore) salvage a well-intentioned but ill-thought-out production.
• At Salisbury Playhouse, 22-27 Jan; then touring until 24 March
