As lockdown eases across much of the world and we are trying to adapt to the new normal, friends, families and even the media and government are worried: “what about relationships?” Some didn’t survive and some were created during lockdown. Everyone has their own personal situations and concerns, as highlighted by the characters in this unique one-of-a-kind virtual show, Islands of Contentment. 

Co-produced by Hypokrit Productions and The Tank, in association with Autonomous Works, Islands of Contentment is a livestreamed Zoom collection of 13 monologues performed, depending on the day, by a cast of 20 actresses and actors, and created by the talented Dipti Bramhandkar.

Divided into two "desserts" called "Brownie" and "Seven Layer Cake.", you can choose one or let yourself take another sweet bite, sugar-free, with the two-course package, either outside with streaming-only or inside with the interactive part, in this well-mastered online theatre Zoom call where performances are live and you are cordially invited to watch but also to participate in the inside option. 

A mysterious and friendly narrator warns the audience at the beginning that no two stories are the same and depending on odd or even days, you can have different performers and a whole new experience. She also encourages the insiders to participate via private messages on the chat. What a marvellous interactive experience! You’re both listening to the performances and living it. You are then asked to share memories with the narrator through guided questions after each performance. What happened the last time you saw your ex? What’s your guilty pleasure? What’s the tried and tested thing you do on a date? for instance.

Despite the name of the piece, the monologues deal with unspoken truths, non-dits, the lost and unfulfilled, the interrogations that we sometimes feel ashamed to share, and most of them look at how relationships have ventured into troubled territory. With the odd day’s cast featured in this particular performance, the opening shows the disarray and lucid protagonist performed by the bright Imran Sheikh who finds himself at a disadvantage when his partner’s ex shows up, Grammy in hand, taking the spotlight.

The character played by the brilliant Rita Wolf interrogates the dating jungle and confides about a night out with a guy who became emotional about a moment with his ex and wanted to recreate it! Two segments explore the different faces of grief, one is the husband’s side from a troubled marriage during an immeasurable tragedy and the other speaks about grief when being the other person.

In other vignettes, destructive impulses when being in a relationship are evoked, guilty pleasures and consequences in a marriage and relationships when both partners are at home for a long time are questioned (pretty accurate during this particular context). The funny "A Girl's Guide to Self-Pleasure," reveals a joyous Lipica Shah as a confused wife who starts a relationship with her vibrator, when she’s finding herself bored in her marriage with a husband comfy with cuddles only. 

We can’t forget to mention the rest of the talented ensemble, coming from various artistic backgrounds, who bring these true-to-life characters to fruition. Perfectly cast, the Brownie performers include Sidney Williams, Sathya Sridharan, Nina Davuluri’s tired character with truthful words and a glass of wine in hand, Purva Bedi, the unmissable Danny Pudi and Florencia Lozano, and the ones in “Seven Layer Cake are Suraj Sharma, Sumeet Vyas, Ajay Naidu, Maanvi Gagroo and Daphne Rubin Vega.

The ingenious part of the show is watching these life moments as a spectator whilst recalling your own. At the end, you may have some surprises during each dessert if you choose the inside package. As enjoyable as this double aspect is, juggling the on screen action and live chat, if you’re not good at multitasking, it can occasionally be a little distracting. The audience can also feel a little frustrated because the segments end just as they seem to find their pace in this one-hour-show per dessert.

Playwright Dipti Bramhandkar uses her writing to capture modern day relationships issues, with co-directors Arpita Mukherjee and Hannah Wolf. and director of selected filmed monologues Rahul Chitella, handling the different personalities of the cast and the online requirements perfectly. The rest of the team work well together to deliver these online daily instants, which seem to belong to our uncertainty post-pandemic life, with lighting design by Alexandra Vásquez Dheming, production design by Chen-Wei Liao, costume design by Dina El-Aziz, video design by director of photography Kate Ducey, and sound design by Ran Xia (who directed the great adaptation of Prometheus Bound) . We can also underline the untroubled digital performances.

As the heroine of Bluebells recalls the dating process, the memories we create aren’t only our own but also souvenirs of previous relationships and as revealing as it is to watch the performer’s monologues that could have come from the audience’s minds, it’s also nice to allow the audience to recall their own memories and reminds us of its powerful effect.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Alexia Irene 

Islands of Contentment is available to stream until 2 May 2021 here.