By: Martine Baanvinger

I’m at the Nelson Theatre Royal and very much looking forward to seeing this show. I saw Krishnan’s Dairy many years ago in Auckland and it is still high on my list of favourite shows seen in New Zealand. A simple set awaits us: a two-step platform and a black screen behind it. The first thing we encounter is a sound effect. It sets the tone of the soundscape we will be encountering throughout the show. (There are over 300 sound cues!)

A man falls from the sky and lands on the platform. He finds himself in a dream like space trying to figure out where he is. We find out that the man is Kutisar (Jacob Rajan) and that he works at Harvey Norman. An unexpected visitor arrives: a vulture (created and puppet-mastered by Jon Coddington). This scary-looking bird is an important player in the thread of the flashbacks that take us on the journey of Kutisar’s life in Mumbai.

We meet Meera, a young, confident Parsi woman in a nightclub. She takes Kutisar on the back of her scooter to the Tower of Silence where the Parsis leave their deceased for sky burial by vultures. This introduces the crucial role that these birds play in the lives and deaths of Parsi people. They pick the bones clean so the soul can be released and move on to the afterlife. The decaying body of Meera’s deceased Baba (grandfather) is still on the tower, untouched. The vultures seem to have disappeared.

This mystery kicks off a series of colourful events portrayed by Kutisar, Meera, Farooq (Meera’s cousin), Dr Roa (Meera’s eccentric old aunt), a ruthless money lender, and a vulture scientist.

Rajan moves almost unseen between these well-developed characters. The transitioning is seamless, subtle and played out with huge precision. The gesturing, body shapes and the tone of the voices are supporting the audience to keep up with who we are encountering in the story. Another highly precise element of the show is the interaction of the actor with the hyperreal sound effects (created by David Ward). This brings the architecture alive.

I ‘see’ the exact set up of the kulfi (Indian version of ice-cream) shop in front me because of the combined gesturing and sound effects. The hyperreal sounds are in contrast with the more abstract art works (by John Verryt) that are projected on the screen to suggest the environments. The subtle but highly effective glowing of the fire in the ‘windows’ while Meera’s kulfi shop burns down is striking and visceral.

PARADISE or The Impermanence of Ice Cream employs the highest standard of storytelling. The time, care and precision that must have gone into its creation is apparent. Rajan and his skilled team have woven a brilliant piece of theatre that is accessible for all ages. It brings all the different facets of creating theatre together in one well balanced flavoured kulfi. And it leaves the audience to ponder and be in awe of the mysteries of life and death, the human condition and the extraordinary roles vultures play in the ecosystem.

I know that the joyful dancing vulture will forever be imprinted in memory.