Mrs. Krishnan’s Party You’re Invited!

The rules of theatre will be danced around the floor when audiences become active participants in MRS KRISHNAN’S PARTY. Indian ink’s joyous, life-affirming take on death, rebirth and the impact of community kicks off at the Carterton Events Centre on Thursday 29th April.

Mrs Krishnan’s boarder, overzealous wannabe DJ James, has invited ‘a few friends’ into the back room of the dairy as a special surprise to celebrate Onam and the return home of her son. When a tonne of strangers turn up and settle in, Mrs K has no choice but to throw the party of her life.

Indian Ink Theatre Company continues to build bridges across cultures and faiths. Now they’re shaking things up a bit, going immersive and interactive as they blur the line between audience and performers. In MRS KRISHNAN’S PARTY, they’ll push theatrical form, seating the audience around the dining table, standing around the place, and perching them around the kitchen bench in an utterly disarming 75 minutes of comedic odd-couple drama. Together, actors and audience will magically create a community, engaging people in novel ways and leaving them with their bellies and souls fed. The extraordinary artistic partnership of Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis is now comfortably in its second decade. Together, they have created a series of remarkable theatre productions of intimate scale, each one reminding us of the simple truths of life.

Indians are known for their crazy parties and riotous festivals. Onam, which is championed in this production, is the annual Hindu Festival celebrating the rice harvest, symbolising death and rebirth. This national tour aligns perfectly with Onam celebrations across New Zealand, which is observed with numerous festivities including worship, elaborate feasts, elegant dances, energetic games, martial arts, elephants, boat races, flowers and even tug-of-war!

“This is a show the likes of which we have never seen before at the Events Centre” said Carterton Events Centre Sales and Marketing coordinator Jenni Hall. “We are very lucky to be working with a theatre company who knows their stuff and provides incredible support and collateral to help us let our audience know what to expect.” 2020 brought many opportunities to the regions. With Wairarapa being one of the highest tourism growth spaces in the country, we know the time is right to bring more diverse and exciting shows to our local and tourist audiences. Mrs. Krishnan’s Party hits the mark for three of the top five audience feedback requests to our venue in one show - Cultural diversity, New Zealand theatre and Comedy.

The evening plays out from Mrs K’s kitchen, so the staging and seating layout has been a fun challenge for the Carterton Events Centre venue team to accommodate. “There’s 5 different seating options (some already sold out!) to accommodate the different levels of participation from the audience. This means 5 different layouts within the staging area, “it really puts our skills to the test and our team is rising to the challenge” said Carterton Events Centre Venue Manager David Sims.

Come along and watch the actors juggle cooking, music and guests in an unfolding drama where no two nights are the same at a show that has the critics raving and audiences leaping to their feet.

Mrs. Krishnan’s party is on for 3 nights only, from Thursday 29 April – Saturday 1 May. Tickets are available now at the Carterton Events Centre box office, or online through www.cartertonec.co.nz/whats-on.

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