Reviews: Krishnan's Dairy

An inventive, heartfelt and bitter-sweet treatment... reduced this reviewer to tears

Comic genius... a tour de force from a master of multicultural mayhem.

..this quirky gem... has relevant things to say...

it all adds up to riveting and magic theatre

Performer Jacob Rajan weaves a wonderful spell in this deft one-hander, defining all the characters by the use of superb masks. He swaps masks as well as characters with the speed of the best magician, accompanied by absolutely superb sound effects

Absolute enchantment. Superb stuff. A charming play. Subtle and delicate... all that and more.

Krishnan's Dairy... is cute, sentimental, large-spirited, beautifully performed, utterly touching: [Rajan is a] spellbinding performer: his mastery of voice, body language, and characterisation are his show's most poetic features of all.

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This is a piece of absolute enchantment... Jacob Rajan is extraordinary. Playing all parts with lightening switches of masks, he unearths the profoundly touching comedy of these hopeful, vulnerable lives while never once patronising! We were in the palm of his hand for every second of one of the tenderest, most life-affirming shows on the [Edinburgh] Fringe.

The unexpected delight of my day, though was Krishnan's Dairy... a guileless, deeply affecting play that celebrates the unfashionable virtues of mutual love and dogged perseverance. Rajan is a performer of charm and gentle humour, a writer of exceptional generosity, and his apparently unassuming drama... achieves a quietly devastating emotional charge.

The real beauty of Krishnan's Dairy, though, comes in its telling. Using little more that a series of masks and some deft physical caricature, Rajan and director Justin Lewis have created a work of some charm that amuses as much as it touches...

While Rajan covers the issues from arranged marriage to everyday racism, this play is above all about the pleasure of storytelling. Sweet, sentimental and funny, this is a perfect show for those seeking a gentle laugh, a few songs, and a prick of sadness.

Such is the power of Jacob Rajan's ground-breaking work: it changes the way you see the world... such riveting theatre that you would have to have a heart of reinforced concrete not to be captivated. [Rajan] is a stage natural, economical in movement, fluid in gesture, never in-your-face but unforgettably in-your-presence: all New Zealanders should see it.

...delightfully witty and moving... beautifully performed by Rajan ... the juxtaposition of the two love stories gives the 70 minute play strikingly effective and powerful undercurrents.

Immensely moving... I am sure I was not the only member of the audience brought to tears... the experiences of Gobi and Zina bring to life the cold statistics we read. Rajan is a charming and accomplished performer whose skills in music and dance add immeasurably to the impact of the play.