LETTERS TO MY GRANDMA written and performed by Anusree Roy (Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace, 16 Ryerson). Runs to December 12. Pwyc-$30. 416-504-7529. See listing. Rating: NNN
Anusree Roy’s solo show Letters To My Grandma has been significantly altered since its workshop production earlier this year. Though still not letter perfect, it opens up lots of complex issues about the seeds of racism and discrimination.
About to be married, the India-born and now Toronto-based Malobee looks back on her relationship with her grandmother, who’s isolated back in India, criticizing her nurse and awaiting phone calls and letters from abroad.
A key incident during the Second World War has twisted the older woman’s life, and you can see echoes of that in her current situation.
Sometimes the writing is a bit too “on the nose,” and I wish Roy had suggested more about the generation between the two women to add more texture and subtlety to the script.
But the production works well. With the help of director Thomas Morgan Jones and designer David DeGrow, the changes in time and location are effectively marked out, with a lighting cue or bolt of fabric suggesting much.
And Roy, a hugely charismatic performer, switches between the two women with ease, altering her voice and posture with concentration and smouldering tension.
