Himmat

Last night I attended the opening of Himmat, at the Cultch. It is a bilingual play (Punjabi and English) about an Indian family in Vancouver. 

I try not to give negative reviews on this site, so I'll just explain why the play did not work for me. I don't speak Punjabi, so I felt I was missing out on some of the characters and their development when they were not speaking English. I thought there might have been subtitles going into it, but there weren't any. And that's fine. I saw the latest movie version of West Side Story where Spanish is included without subtitles, but I had no problem still relating to the characters since the lines in Spanish were fairly minimal. In Himmat, there are several full scenes that are completely in Punjabi and I had no clue what was happening or being said. It's an ambitious and noble attempt at bringing something seemingly new to Vancouver audiences. 

I took a playwriting course before, and I know that doesn't make me an expert on plays, but it did make me notice a few things. There are numerous scenes and scene changes in Himmat. I've found over the years that the plays I enjoy the most are the ones where the set never changes and it's almost like one long continuous scene, as opposed to one minute vignettes right after the other. It disrupts the flow for me and I find it harder to get into the character development. 

Another thing I learned in that course was that the writer or director should try to avoid having their characters sit down, as it drains the energy out of a production. I definitely felt this didn't help the show last night as the characters were either sitting or laying in a bed or leaning against something. 

When I got home, The Cultch had sent out an email saying they felt it was necessary to send out a synopsis of the show. This is probably a good idea and I wish I had received it beforehand. 

Himmat is on now at The Cultch until May 15.