By: Sarah Catherall 

Jacob Rajan is a rare talent, an absolute veteran of the stage. On a crisp Friday night at the intimate Hannah’s Playhouse theatre, the Wellington playwright and actor takes us to the Indian city of Bangalore, where he cleverly shifts between 17 characters, simply by changing his accent, stature and demeanour.

I’ve been watching Rajan for more than two decades, since he emerged on the stage 27 years ago in Indian Ink’s first performance, Krishnan’s Dairy, which earned him an Edinburgh Fringe Festival award for his role as a corner dairy owner and multiple other characters.

Guru of Chai shows Rajan at his finest. With Indian Ink co-director Justin Lewis, he wrote and first staged the play in 2008, after the global financial crisis, when people stopped going to the theatre. It’s hard not to draw parallels tonight, with the cost of living crisis and public sector cuts, but Hannah Playhouse is packed with Indian Ink fans.

Updated with contemporary themes ‒ Covid gets a mention ‒ the play is based on an Indian fairytale, Punchkin, about a tea seller (chai-wallah), who has his life changed when seven sisters arrive at Banglore station after they are abandoned by destitute parents.

Rajan plays a guru, Kutisah, who starts off giving a motivational talk, telling us to get off our phones, as he talks about loneliness, overwork and love. “They drink coffee because they are tired. They go to the gym because they are fat … They drink too much.’’

“This is the slippery soap. And tonight, my friends, all your problems will be gone.’’

Over the following 80 minutes, Kutisah recalls an account of trying to sell his tea one morning when seven sisters come and busk at the station. They sing beautifully, and are led by the youngest, Balna, They need protection money and we are then taken over 15 years as Rajan takes a dig at the tug between Indian tradition and Westernisation ‒

Kutisah’s tea stand is by a Starbucks – and corruption and bureaucracy in a captivating, sad and at-times hilarious plot with plenty of twists and turns.

In other Indian Ink works, Rajan is often masked (masks are Indian Ink’s trademark). This time, his only physical prop is a set of decaying, jutting buck teeth, but there is no need for masks as the performer brilliantly and effortlessly turns from tea seller to playing the main female character, Balna, to a chubby policeman, a handsome poet, and other walk-on characters, in this fast-paced narrative.

Each and every incarnation is complete with their own personality, voice, and expression.

Rajan holds quick conversations between each character and we are never confused about who is who.

The award-winning thespian also shows his skills in physical theatre and shadow play. We are mesmerised when he has a cock fight, when one hand attacks the other in a flurry of squawking and aggression. A parrot flies in front of the moon created by just the shadow of the performer’s hands.

At his side throughout is Adam Ogie, a talented guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, who plays Eastern tunes and sound effects. With the perfect dose of audience participation, Guru of Chai is pure theatre magic.