Sonali Bhattacharyya adds an ingenious element to her story about immigration. After sisters Nikita and Riya, in danger of deportation, visit an odd family friend, Riya gains the power to create a supernatural creature to help her. Director Milli Bhatia emphasises every spooky and funny moment of this original idea; the Hiran, translated as fawn in English, is the making of the play.
Zainab Hasan and Safiyya Ingar, who play the sisters, are superb at grounding the action, especially given more than a few jump scares. The siblings’ relationship is convincing at the start and both performers are strong comedians. That said, Ayesha Dharker gets even more laughs and has a great night playing two wonderful villains. First Dharker is the witchy Shashi and then a smart landlady who has put up the rent: the question arises as to who scares us more.
There’s fun with the spooky creature too, along with the pointed fact that he is white and serves as a “sponsor” for Riya’s immigration claim. She calls him Jonathan (which really tickled me) and says they need him to be “slick but bland”. But Jonathan is scary too; Dominic Holmes makes the part appropriately creepy, aided by verses spoken off stage. And Ingar makes sure we fear for her character – having a pet psychopath at your beck and call isn’t fun.
Bhattacharyya wants to make other important points. Nikita works with migrants and their trials – including interviews and working conditions – are articulated through the character of Tahir, given a heartfelt depiction by Diyar Bozkurt. If Tahir seems to belong to a different play, Bhatia makes a virtue of that by emphasising the contrasting scenes. Maybe, with so much going on, adding romance for both sisters might not be needed.
There’s some clunky dialogue (that the location of the play isn’t specified doesn’t help) as well as moralising moments. And too many puzzling questions. It isn’t clear why Jonathan turns out to be right wing (surely his papers aren’t in order either?). Or why Riya becomes so vindictive: if power has corrupted her, that needs prepping. The play starts to buckle under its own ambition with an unnecessary twist set in the future. But King Troll (The Fawn) is entertaining, memorable, and easy to rate as a four-star show.
Until 2 November 2024
Photos by Helen Murray
