By: Cathryn Macey
Beyond Face toast their tenth anniversary with this beautiful performance about loss, love and the highs and lows of a family holiday.
Nothing quite screams midlife crisis like a dad wearing knee high socks. Dressed in a pair of bright green socks, a “Where’s Wally” style t shirt and a jazzy yellow jacket, writer and performer Saikat Ahamed is the picture of optimism as he embarks on a trip to Venice with his two teenagers and wife.
Sure, he’s freshly bereaved and in the grip of an existential crisis but that won’t stop him from shoving grief to one side and giving his brood a good time exploring a city he once visited with his dad. There’s just one problem…. his grief didn’t get the memo about releasing Saikat from its suffocating grip and so his trip down memory lane is soon turned into a living nightmare. In fact, the more he masks his morbid thoughts with gelato and gondolas, the more persistent his unresolved feelings about his dad’s death are.
Directed sensitively by Alix Harris, “In search of Goldoni” is about Saikat’s search for sanctuary from his bereavement. However, it’s also about Ahamed’s quest for a connection to his past life; the one before kids, a wife and a mortgage. This part of the play is particularly relatable to those of us who yearn for that untarnished zest for life we once had.
Stumbling across a statue of Carlo Goldoni (a playwright that wrote a play Ahamed once performed in during the late 90’s) Saikat is filled with the burning desire to learn more about the writer’s heritage. Spurred on by discovering that Goldoni was also raised by a doctor, he becomes obsessed with piecing together as much information as he can about his Venetian muse.
In a sense, this search for Goldoni is a side quest; a distraction from the pain of losing his father at short notice to cancer. You could go as far to say that, in some ways, this part of the production is like a Muslim version of “Eat, Pray, Love.” Ahamed explores Venice and makes regular stops in quaint book shops and traditional cafes. Aldo Vazquez’s set features a large, impressive mock up of the Rialto bridge which brings an air of authenticity to Ahamed’s guided tour.
However, through Nicola T Chang’s use of sound effects, the scene quickly shifts from a midlife rom com to the gritty reality of end-of-life care. Amid poetic musings about the beauty of the Rialto bridge, we briefly hear the intermittent beeping of a life support machine before hearing a snippet of dialogue from Saikat’s dad’s hospital bed in Romford. Ahamed’s switch from dad in vacay mode to son in mourning mode is intensified by the lighting (Rajiv Pattani) which appears warm and ambient in Venice but cold and clinical in Romford.
As the production progresses, we see more about Saikat’s dad’s decline. Despite the harrowing story line, Ahamed communicates a lot of warmth and respect for his father which, in turn, makes these difficult parts of the performance somewhat uplifting. Saikat is open about all aspects of Islamic culture and traditions related to death and it is fascinating to learn about them all.
A lot of “In Search of Goldoni” is relatively naturalistic but there are some more surreal parts which elevate the show from a one-man production about the human condition to something that is rather quite edgy. When Ahamed sings in a jazzy musical style about his father we honestly do not know whether to laugh or cry; we’re caught off guard. These ambiguous moments give the play’s conclusion an innovative and alternative feeling.
“In Search of Goldoni” is a sweet and soulful play that deserves its prolonged audience applause this evening. The crowd’s reaction is testament to Ahamed’s heartfelt performance; he puts everything into it. Let’s hope he has another holiday booked for after the tour. Bellissimo!