English comedy strikes a chord


Theatre
A scene from I Am Only Human! Picture by Eastern Projections
I Am Only Human! a hilarious play staged in English language by the theatre group — Stage Fusion — at the Pragjyoti-ITA Centre for Performing Arts on February 7 and 8, struck a chord with the audience. An adaptation of the play, It Runs in the Family by Ray Cooney, it was performed in two acts.
The backdrop of the play is a hospital in England. The story begins with Dr David Mortimore preparing his lecture, to be read out at a neurologists’ convention.
Then, Marian Brown, a matron who worked in the hospital 19 years ago, drops in. Marian tells Mortimore that their intimacy, years ago, had resulted in a son, Leslie, who was desperate to meet his father.
Shocked and stunned, Mortimore, to hide his illegitimate fatherhood, “invents” a series of non-existent people and incidents. He then convinces his colleague, Samson Blair, a bachelor, to act as Leslie’s father. In doing so, he falters and misses his lecture. 
Finally, even when the truth is told, Leslie declares that it is only Blair who is fit to become his father.
Blair’s aged mother is happy to find her grandson and so is Leslie. Blair, though helpless, is happy to find a wife and a son. So is Mortimore, to have succeeded in hiding the incident from his wife and others.
With minimum set-props and imaginative light designing, director Rupa Hazarika Som brings rare freshness in the play. Another interesting aspect is the use of melodies to carry the essence of the content.
The flawless performance of the cast also contribute to the success of the play. Uttam Bhattacharjee as Mortimore is brilliant and so are Bijoy Choudhury Dr Blair and director Som as Samantha Rice. Ranjeev Lal Barua as Leslie is superb.

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