After they staged the play Wait Until Dark last year (a mystery thriller by Frederick Knott), the amateur troupe Theatrics was overwhelmed with requests to follow up with a larger production that would involve more people.
"The challenge was to find a script that could accommodate a cast and crew of 25 people," says the director Jimish Thakkar. "The Farnsworth Invention suited our requirement. It's a docu-drama by Aaron Sorkin (a genre never attempted before) about the most important invention of the century: the television. It was a story that had to be told."
The two-act play is based on the race between two ambitious individuals to create one of the most significant technological marvels of the 20th century: the television.
"Directing the play has been an ambitious undertaking," says Thakkar. "We had to recreate a world before television and smart phones. A 1920s America with close to 100 speaking roles, more than 200 lighting/sound and background music cues and almost 40 scene changes."
One member of the cast is the City 101.6 RJ Malavika Varadan, a keen theatre actress who has appeared in two Theatrics productions in the past: The Would-Be Gentleman and Wait Until Dark. For fans of Varadan, this is a great chance to see the RJ in person.
The play will be performed at The Wellington School on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tickets are Dh50 and all proceeds will go to charity. To book, call 050 654 5302 or 055 959 6220. Buy tickets online at www.timeouttickets.com
