KHALI THEATRE COMPANY

Director: Helena Uren

THE OVAL HOUSE THEATRE and small national tour

1998

The first 10 pages of this script is available as a PDF. Please contact if you would like a copy.

The Ecstacy explored the relationship between the lost and lonely Amit, Hindu accontant turned artist living in the East End of London and his nude artist model Jackie a liverpuddlian woman, come to London to recover from the death of her son.

“Anu Kumar succeeds in transcending all cultural barriers which determine relationships in an Indian or English context by celebrating the very slippery tropes of masculinity and femininity in many aspects of the way that relationships can be played out. Ultimately the play is an abstract celebration of the contradiction of gender identities, which are resolved by a reconciling unity made material,visible, palpable in an immediate way that only theatre can accomplish. The Ecstasy is an abstract work of art concretized on the space of the stage.” Alternatives Within The Mainstream: Dimple Godwalia: Cambridge Scholars Press

“Anu Kumar’s The Ecstacy is a gently sweet story deftly meshes together British, Asian and homosexual lifestyles. “ The Herald

“Clearly a knock-out production and one in which, such is the nature of the subject, one barely notices the nudity.” The Stage
The Ecstacy was based on a poem by Jon Donne about love. This metphysical poet provided rich imagery as a spring board for interpretation and contemporay life and extrapolation of realities produced the play.