Making their international debut, UnErase Poetry, India's biggest spoken-word collective, with over two million followers on social media, provide an hour of delightful tales, all beautifully told in Stories From India.
Easy listening, combined with sincerity, passion and humour
Taranjit Kaur, Helly Shah and Simar Singh relate personal stories that give a fascinating insight into a mysterious culture rooted in traditional expectations and family life, which modern generations find increasingly difficult to embrace. An array of topics feature in often amusing anecdotes that have a profound personal element and open questions that go to the heart of the national psyche. What is it like for a young girl to realise that she is less favoured than her sister because she is a different shade of brown? How do you confront parental expectations concerning your career and marriage when they are at odds with what you want? How do you broach the idea of moving away from home to have an independent life of your own making in another country? How do you challenge stereotypes of women and make clear that you do not intend to devote your life to cooking and cleaning. How does a young man explain to his father that there is more to life than being an engineer? Why are boys not supposed to show emotion and what does it mean to be a man? Why is there so little sex education and if you are radical enough to think it necessary, where do you begin?
These tales of love, hope and, of course, engineering, are eloquently expressed in prose and verse by three experts in the art. Their mellow voices and varied delivery make for easy listening, combined with sincerity, passion and humour that sustain the passing on of powerful messages that are at the heart of our humanity.
Storytelling and the spoken word genre is a performance art that is easily overlooked, but this production is a testament to its worthiness as part of the canon of dramatic forms.
Stories From India might be a surprise discovery that opens up a new world of artistic appreciation. The experience will certainly be a joy and memorable.
