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Jacob's Notes

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Jacob’s Notes

I wrote my first programme note for my first play 11 years ago. I'm Indian and the play had Indian characters and the notes were apologizing to Indians and people fond of Indians who might take offense at my portrayal of Indians.

The Dentist's Chair is my fourth play and I'm still Indian, the company is still called Indian Ink but the play actually makes no reference to my ethnicity or the ethnicity of any of the other characters for that matter. It wasn't a deliberate desertion of my culture, it wasn't a political statement - it just happened. The story is a tyrant who exorcises any other allegiance you may have. If you try to force it to do your will, it just packs up and goes into exile leaving you floundering in the wilderness with no one to follow.

And this story has left us lost more than once. A labour of love full of all the anguish and insecurity that only love can inspire and endure. Here's a little tip for young writers. Be careful the themes you choose to explore in your writing since they inevitably loom large in your life as you work.

We chose the theme of fear and fear has hovered over us through the whole process. The climate of fear that has been the tenor of recent times - the terrorism, the tsunamis, the bird-flu replaced with more immediate fears of failure and financial ruin. But of course the flipside of fear is trust. Ask any knife thrower's assistant, frequent flyer or evangelist. When you have enough trust or faith the fear dissipates. And so it was with this play. The fear was transformed from the ominous swooping wings of black vultures overhead into the fluttering of butterflies in our stomachs. Actually, they were the same butterflies I had 11 years ago. It's a reassuring feeling. In the end, our trust in the story and our ability to tell it, our faith in the wonderful team we have assembled have pulled us through the dark times and into the brilliant light of the theatre.