UPDATE: July 29, 2009

Hi there,

The Dentist’s Chair was our biggest show to date and as we reflected on another huge year, we made a commitment to replenish ourselves creatively before embarking on a new project. In late 2008, Justin attended a workshop with John Bolton (he’s the guy that got us hooked on mask in the first place) in the wilds of Canberra. Justin came back with the germ of an idea for a new show. A solo show, with Jacob, performed in people’s lounges. It was a longing to get back to that intimate connection with the audience; the kind of intimacy that creates an imaginative space for people to enter into. It also seemed an ideal response to the hardening economic times: if people are going to stop going to the theatre, we’ll bring it to them.

2009, then, has been a year of renewal. We’ve concentrated on breathing rather than gasping. The benefits have been extraordinary. We took a fresh look at the film adaptation of Krishnan’s Dairy we’ve been working on and did a complete rewrite and suddenly it’s starting to breath too.

We’re working on a collaboration with Capital E: The National Children’s theatre on a new theatre show aimed at 3-6 year olds. We’ll create it, Capital E will produce it. We’ll share the load and, hopefully, breath easier as a result. Of course, the idea of holding the attention of that age group tends to take ones breath away.

May 2009 saw the return of Indian Ink to the Festival Centre in Adelaide, this time with The Candlestickmaker. Critics and audiences loved the show but beyond that, it’s great to continue having a presence in these Australian cities and continue to build relationships with the venues.

June 2009 saw us heading off to even warmer climes. Justin followed some leads in Singapore in terms of potential future collaborators and made some useful contacts.

We then embarked on the highlight of the year. With the aid of Creative New Zealand and Asia New Zealand we spent two weeks exploring the use of mask in Bali. We took part in intensive mask dance classes. 2 hours a day of having our knees splayed open and fingers bent back. Sweat dripping off us – the temperature was in the late 20s. Slapped when we got things wrong, mocked by the rest of the household who gathered to watch - we loved it. We saw mask performance, we observed traditional mask carvers, attended gamelan concerts and met a fantastic exponent and innovator of shadow puppetry. Bali is truly a magical place. Their theatre is immersed in a rich cultural and spiritual context. We hope some of that magic will rub off on the work to come. To that end, we’ve had six new wooden masks made by traditional carvers over there - a valuable addition to our bag of tricks.

The learning continued almost immediately after our return. A workshop in Wellington on Vaudeville run by John Bolton was another opportunity for Justin and Jacob to fill up. It was exhilarating to be thrown into the insanity and chaos of that world of crazy entertainment and such a pleasure to be taught by a master.

So, with something in the tank, we are proceeding in earnest on our new solo show. The working title is Punchkin. We have a story and the characters are taking shape. Keep an eye on the website for developments, In the meantime, clear out some space in your lounge.

Krishnan’s Dairy celebrates its 12th extraordinary year of live with a brief season at the Going West Festival, August 26-29th, Glen Eden Playhouse, Waitakere City. Tickets through www.ticketmaster.co.nz

When the curtain comes down in Waitakere we put everything in a box and send it to Phoenix, Arizona. We’re doing a 15 minute excerpt of Krishnan’s Dairy for the Western Arts Alliance. WAA is an affiliation of venues on the West Coast of America that annually host this prestigious arts market. We were honoured to be invited and hope it’s an opportunity to set up our corner shop in that corner of the world.

Cheers,
Jacob & Justin

The Dentist’s Chair premiered at the 2008 International Festival of the Arts. It was the first show in the Festival to sell out and did so 3 weeks prior to opening – no pressure. The premier went off without a hitch and we had a great season.

A few months later Jacob handed on the lead role of Albert, the Dentist, to Carl Bland and the show hit the road for a intensive North Island tour. There was an addition to the touring party with the announcement of Mia Blake’s pregnancy but that was the only bump in a hectic few months.

All though it might have seemed that we spent most of 2008 at the Dentist we did manage to sneak away to Germany for the European premier of The Candlestickmaker at the Theatre Formen Fesitval in Braunschwieg. It should be noted that Theatre Formen doesn’t actually exclude women. Apparently, “Formen” translates to Form so it’s more to do with the way we use masks and puppetry in our work than the entrenched sexism in our company. Regardless, the show was a hit, receiving standing ovations and a record 6 curtain calls each night.

Before the year was out The Candlestickmaker and Krishnan’s Dairy appeared back to back in Brisbane where Indian Ink has forged a relationship with the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. From there it was a brief flit over to Sydney for a season of Krishnan’s Dairy at the beautifully furbished Casula Power House – a power station converted into a theatre and gallery space.

Life at Indian Ink has never been busier. Earlier this year we performed in Adelaide and we have just returned from a great season in Brisbane with Krishnan's Dairy. The Aussies seem to like us because they keep on inviting us back. Next year we will return to Adelaide with our entire trilogy! Over the last couple of years we have worked hard on getting a foot in the Australian door and it now seems that this work has paid off.

Work on The Dentist's Chair is continuing. With Jacob in Wellington and Justin in Auckland we have embraced modern technology as never before. Often these days we are seen wearing headsets while talking over skype to our dramaturge Murray who is currently residing in Poland. We have really started to get a feel of the scale of the new play which is much bigger than our previous productions.

Creating a play is a mysterious process and bringing a new story to life causes fresh challenges for us every time. The process of extracting our most ambitious work has been a difficult operation and we need some extra time to bring it all together. We have therefore made a tough call and decided to postpone the premier of The Dentist's Chair which was set to tour Hamilton, Tauranga, New Plymouth and Napier this year. We hope that you will understand our decision to postpone is driven by the desire to only present the very best work. We will take the time to develop the production further rather than risk delivering a show that it is not as good as it can be. The Dentist's Chair is now set to premier next year.

Rather than abandoning this year's tour completely we instead decided to do a double bill of Krishnan's Dairy and The Candlestickmaker to honor our commitment to audiences and venues. It's the first time we have toured a double bill outside Auckland and Wellington and we're very excited by that. It will also be a good opportunity for Jacob to get back into the swing of performing different plays on different nights. We want him to be in tip top shape for Adelaide next year.

Our recent seasons of Krishnan's Dairy in Auckland and Wellington went through the roof, selling out before opening. It was our fifth return season to these two cities and we continue to be amazed by the demand there is for Krishnan's Dairy. In both cities we had to put on an extras show because the original season sold out before opening. The purpose of the seasons was to help us raise funds for the making of our new play The Dentist's Chair and the overwhelming turnout in Auckland and Wellington now means that we are able to continue to move ahead with making the new play.

As part of the seasons of Krishnan's Dairy we did a presentation of The Dentist's Chair. It is always nerve-wracking to present something that's still in the making but the audience responded very well to Albert, the dentist. Seeing him really getting to work on the teeth of Mr. Williams with state-of-the-art nasty and crude looking dental equipment, seemed to hit a nerve and we can't wait to get back into the dental surgery and try out the really big drill.

Music has always been a central part of our work and The Dentist's Chair will be no exception. In the past we have been satisfied with only one musician on stage this time around we'll have a whole band on stage. Audiences in Auckland and Wellington got a chance to meet our musical collaborators for the new play. Dave Ward, the musician in Krishnan's Dairy and The Candlestickmaker, this time works as both composer and banjoist.

He is joined by Craig Taylor on vocals, percussion and gongs and Isaac Smith on double bass (and possibly tuba). The trio might seem small at first sight (Isaac can even fit into his double bass tour case) but they are musical force to be reckoned with and make for a lean mean music machine.

For The Dentist's Chair we have been experimenting with projecting onto three-dimensional objects. It's a completely new creative direction for the company and it has let us down a path that at times has transformed our rehearsal space into a war-room like chamber filled with menacingly humming laptops and flashing lights. Since The Dentist's Chair is all about fear we find this new direction in our work encouraging.

In the beginning of November we were invited to the "Show and Tell" by the International Arts Festival to give festival producers from around the country a chance to see more of The Dentist's Chair. It was the first time we have shown the combination of mask and projection. The presentation sparked a lot of interest and there has following been approached by several NZ festivals.

Next year we will spend a lot of time on the road; returning home every once in a while only to do the washing, mow the lawns and play with our kids. The Pickle King is going to Singapore in January and February. Krishnan's Dairy goes to Adelaide in April and Brisbane in August. This is all just the warm up for the big tour at the end of the year, where will premier The Dentist's Chair in Hamilton and then take tour it Napier, New Plymouth and Tauranga. After that, we.ll have a holiday.

Apart from all the theatre work we continue to work on the film version of Krishnan's Dairy. After numerous of years spent on comfy couches complaining over badly written films .HA! Even I could write that. we now have to put our hands where our mouths were and write a film. We've done a first draft so far and the response from people in the industry has been extremely encouraging. We have an experienced producer onboard, Robin Scholes, and are now working towards our second draft of the film.

We await 2007 with trepidation and anticipation. Looks like the perfect year for The Dentist's Chair with its tag line "life makes cowards of us all".

UPDATE: August 28, 2006

Jacob and Justin are delighted to announce that we are making a new play.

The Dentist's Chair is provoked by the idea that 'life makes cowards of us all.' Fear controls our actions and we have set our new work in that most terrifying of locations - the dentist's chair. It was a dentist who developed anaesthetic from a desire to ease the pain of the world. It was also a dentist who invented the electric chair. The Dentist's Chair will premier in late 2007 and we have begun work on the play.

The completion of our loose trilogy created a natural end point for Indian Ink and we considered embarking on separate careers. However, very much in the spirit of the times we have decided to renew our 'vows.' At the centre of our renewed creative partnership is the new play and what better place to start a new relationship than in a dentist's chair.

Creating a new work is expensive and the available funding from Creative New Zealand and sponsorships will not be enough to cover the capital cost of The Dentist's Chair. So we are rolling out Krishnan's Dairy for short seasons that will raise funds to help us make the new play.

To add interest and because we respond well to deadlines we are offering a sneak peak of The Dentist's Chair. We will show a snippet of the play, talk about the piece and how we make a show.

The presentation will consist of a brief performance (5 min) that will give a flavour of the new work. We will spend about 10min giving a verbal presentation on The Dentist's Chair and how we make a play. We will also take questions from the audience. This is a very early taste of new work in progress and there will be many developments before it makes it to the stage in 2007. We hope that it will whet your appetite and give you an insight into the creation of a new play.

The presentation is free and begins a few minutes after the conclusion of Krishnan's Dairy. If you have purchased a ticket to Krishnan's Dairy please remain in your seat. If you aren't attending the performance of Krishnan's Dairy please gather in the foyer of the theatre and when the members of the audience who aren't staying for the presentation have left you will be seated in the auditorium. No ticket is required for the presentation.

It's been 4 years since we premiered The Pickle King and to be working on a new play feels great.

In Wellington Jacob got rid of the old post it note on his computer "Note to self - write new play" and has actually begun chipping away at it, while trying to filter out the background noises of the 3 kids running around the house. In Auckland, Justin has reorganized the office, purchased a new mouse mat and gotten a new hair cut. Emails with new ideas, great ideas, awful ideas and ideas that we still don't quite know what to make of are flowing in a steady stream between Auckland and Wellington as we slowly get to grips with what it means being in a dentist's chair.

This year we have toured to Singapore and Australia. Next year we plan to return to Singapore with The Pickle King. We will tour Krishnan's Dairy to Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin and North Queensland. We have invitations to Malaysia, Hong Kong, the UK, Ireland, Hungary and Romania and have to figure out what we can actually do. We are talking with the DSIR about cloning Jacob, Justin and the rest of the creative team so we can be in two places at once.

Out film adaptation has taken a major step forward with the completion of our first draft script. This has been a long labour and a steep learning curve but the exciting news is that the Film Commission has just approved some funding to develop a second draft and we are working with some real film producers on the project.

With Creative New Zealand's support we are working with business incubator 'The Icehouse' to develop our business. This is a great opportunity to step back from the daily grind,, take a look ahead and remind ourselves that we are in a new millennium and cloning is not just science fiction.

Justin and Jacob

UPDATE: July 12 2005

The first two performances of the Indian Ink trilogy have sold out nearly three weeks before the season starts.

For a limited two week season at SKYCITY Theatre the Indian Ink theatre company are presenting all three of their award winning plays in a repertory season.

This repertory season is a unique event in contemporary New Zealand theatre. Indian Ink's entire repertoire of work will staged with the play changing every two nights. Although common practice internationally the lack of local companies with work in repertoire means that this type of season has not occurred in recent NZ theatre history.

This will be a marathon effort for star performer Jacob Rajan who must remember not just only which mask he is wearing but also which play he is in. But it will also require a huge effort from the unseen heroes of the theatre - the backstage team who must pack in a new play every two days.

The season coincides with the publication of the all three plays in one volume from Victoria University Press entitled Indian Ink.

All three plays The Pickle King, The Candlestickmaker and Krishnan's Dairy have sold out and won praise throughout New Zealand and internationally. This is a unique opportunity to see one or more of the Indian Ink plays before they head overseas.

UPDATE: July 3 2005

Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis are delighted to announce that Indian Ink will perform repertory seasons of their much loved plays The Pickle King, The Candlestickmaker and Krishnan's Dairy in Auckland and Wellington.

Due to strong demand we have decided to reprise the productions in a unique format that will allow theatre lovers to see all three plays over four nights. For 2 weeks in each city the shows will rotate in repertory, changing every two nights to travel twice through the Indian Ink trilogy.

Indian Ink's productions have won awards and broken box offices records throughout New Zealand. Audiences have embraced the humour and warmth of Krishnan's Dairy (a love story set in a corner shop), The Candlestickmaker (black holes and the formula for happiness collide when a NZ Indian student visits his ancestral home for the first time) and The Pickle King (Death checks into a hotel - a comedy about what is worth preserving and finding the courage to love). Seasons regularly sell out before opening.

Jacob Rajan appears in each show and will face the challenge not just of multiple roles but also of multiple plays. An equally great task is faced by the backstage and technical team who must turn the lights, set and sound around in time frames that are unheard of in local theatre practice.

The original casts are reuniting for this season. Ben Wilcock is taking a break from his real job playing piano in a London hotel to reprise his role as Graham, the resident piano player in The Pickle King's Empire Hotel. Our favourite immigrant Ansuya Nathan is returning from Sydney and her work there at the Old Fitzroy Theatre. Weta Workshops have kindly given permission for Nick Blake to unplug the electrodes and don the fat suit to tread the boards once again as the infamous George Reaper.

Indian Ink's work is familiar to many people and audiences continue to grow. Our most recent venture - a return tour of Krishnan's Dairy to New Plymouth, Napier, Christchurch and other provincial centres sold out. Building on this enormous audience support, Indian Ink has developed a unique and sustainable business model that allows us to present seasons such as this one without public subsidy.

Indian Ink recently returned from The Asian Arts Market in Singapore, where their work was very well received, and subsequently the company got offers from Hungary, Canada and Australia. In November Indian Ink will go back to Singapore to do a season of The Candlestickmaker. Earlier this year, the BBC recorded a radio adaptation of The Pickle King with well known UK actors including Mina Anwar. In late July Victoria University Press will be releasing all three plays in one publication titled Indian Ink (press copies available on request). Jacob and Justin continue to work on their adaptation of Krishnan's Dairy into a film script.

The upcoming seasons of the trilogy will be a unique opportunity to view Indian Ink's works alongside one another in a format that has not been attempted in recent New Zealand theatre history.

UPDATE DECEMBER 2004

2004 marks 8 years of Indian Ink. We formed in 1996. Had a play open in each century and one in the millennium. We said early on that we were only going to make 3 plays. So what's next?

THE FILM
It's a question that was looming towards the end of the creation of The Pickle King. The abyss that follows the completion of anything. Then the NZ Film Commission gave us a call and got us thinking seriously about an idea we'd had on the back-burner for a while: translating Krishnan's Dairy the stage play to the screen. Translation is a useful analogy. Theatre and Film are different languages. They have the same roots in story-telling but the accents and rhythms are completely different. So for the last 3 months we've been trying to learn a new language or at least a bunch of useful phrases of a new language. We're exploring the setting and characters in greater detail, watching lots of films, becoming friends with the librarian, grilling Jake's mum. It's a familiar process in a lot of ways but it's leading us to something completely new and it feels really good.

THE WEST END
We've still chipping away at trying to get our work over to London. Taking The Pickle King * to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year was a means to that end. Justin's been following up talking to producers and venues and generally getting a feel for how things work over there. At the moment we're targeting some key off-West End venues with an idea to doing The Pickle King or Krishnan's Dairy (depending on venue size) in the northern Spring, 2005. Justin's actually clocked up enough air-points to give him Gold status with Singapore Airlines (it doesn't get you the pointy end of the plane but you do get a free croissant in the transit lounge).