Synopsis:
This highly experimental play presents a group of aristocrats who inhabit a semi-deserted mansion and begin to improvise scenarios, ranging from ominous to silly, about the meaning of life. The production features Nepali film and stage luminaries appropriate for a play modeled on leading German actors of the time: Rajkumar Pudasaini and Aashant Sharma, in a great comic duo reminiscent of the bums in Waiting for Godot; Kavita Srinivasan and Ranjana Bhattarai as a competing pair of beauties; the always impressive Bijay Tamrakar; and agile performers Saroj Aryal and Sandeep Dangol. The scenography is inspired by Nina Taylor’s highly imaginative, surreal shop windows for the boutique store Molly B. in Berkeley, California.
The Ride Across Lake Constance keeps the One World Theatre commitment to contemporary dramatic texts, outstanding acting, and social justice issues in the forefront. Here, the serious explorations of patriarchy, ownership, and servitude—and the human need to make sense of the world--are all but buried in a hysterical avalanche of terror and nonsense, something like our lives during the Pandemic.