Movie review: Behind The Beautiful Forevers

Scene from Behind The Beautiful Forevers. Photo / Screengrab

Treasure emerges from the rubbish in Behind The Beautiful Forevers

The acclaimed non-fiction book by New Yorker staff writer Katherine Boo is the raw material of this energetic and often spellbinding production of an adaptation by David Hare, the first National Theatre show with an entirely Asian cast.

The title oozes irony: "Beautiful Forever" is the slogan of luxury floor tiles advertised on hoardings that obscure from view the play's setting - Annawadi, the "sumpy plug of a slum" under the airport flight path in Mumbai where Boo documented daily life for three years. Sorting and recycling rubbish is the main industry and "don't litter" signs are frowned on ("What sort of message does that send?" one character fumes).

The book, a quietly angry piece of social-realist reportage, succeeded largely because it breathed individual life into its cast of characters. letting them be more than cookie-cutter illustrations of the writer's themes. Hare's fast and often very funny script extends this process: there are no noble poor here, but only people at the bottom of the pile in a globalised world rife with official indifference and corruption.

The sickening irony is that that they can only escape it by becoming part of it; exploiting your neighbour beats solidarity any time, so embezzling funds meant for a poverty-relief programme is common sense.

Syal, familiar as the risque grandma in The Kumars at No 42, plays the snobbish Zehrunisa, one side of the feud that provides the story's backbone. Her neighbour Fatima (Jayasundera) embarks on a shocking course of revenge that sparks an encounter with the law - not a good idea for a poor person at the best of times in India.

This plotline is one of several that keep the show moving on a revolving stage with impressively flexible sets and the ensemble cast hums in perfect harmony so that even star turns do not obtrude.

As a piece of theatre, it falls short of masterpiece status, but it's a remarkable and kinetic adaptation of a fine book.

Cast: Hiran Abeysekera, Meera Syal, Shane Zaza, Thusitha Jayasundera, Anjana Vasan,Stephanie Street
Director: Rufus Norris
Running time: 160 mins
Rating: TBC
Verdict: Eye-opening and unexpectedly funny