Multiple roles no pickle for this cast and crew

The Pickle King has a small cast and minimal props but packs a remarkable and memorable punch.

The setting is creatively minimalist but the power from the stage as the small but chameleon-like cast go about delivering the acclaimed Indian Ink theatre company production The Pickle King is extraordinary.

The "tragicomic" play is coming back to delight Hawke's Bay audiences having played here in 2002 and 2003, and as co-writer and director Justin Lewis said, those passing 15 years had led to some scripting changes as times and attitudes had changed.

"We've had a bit of a refresh," he said as issues of immigration, high-qualified people having to take on what are sometimes considered menial roles and globalisation had been part of societal changes.

But the core of the acclaimed and award-winning play, which blends in comedy and moments of poignancy and sorrow, is strongly intact.

He and co-writer Jacob Rajan wanted to create something with "emotional weight" that embraced beauty, humour, sadness and truth.

"We wanted plenty of substance."

At the heart of it all it is a love story, Justin said.

A love story between a hotel porter and a receptionist - and of how young Sasha who lost everyone she loved in a chemical explosion back in India believes she is cursed - because people she loves seem to die. She accordingly has a fear of loving ... and then one night Death books into the hotel.

It has engaged and infatuated audiences since it first hit the stage and picked up seven nominations at the New Zealand Theatre Awards in 2002 and took out the supreme Production of the Year Award.

And the chameleon-like cast?

Yes indeed, for there are only three of them yet eight diverse characters will step out onto the stage at some point.

That facet certainly caught out the small invited audience to a pre-tour show Justin had organised last week.

"At the end of the show they were cheering and stamping their feet - and people were wondering why only three actors did the curtain call - but that's all there were."

He praised the imaginative skills of the acting trio of Kalyani Nagarajan, Vanessa Kumar and Andrew Ford and the piano accompanying skills of Napier-born Ayrton Foote.

"They do so well - they do a lot with a little and they make the play so rich and populated - it is not like a small show at all."

With a smile Justin said only once in the course of his long directing of the play did one of the actors return to stage (after what should have been a character change) still working in the mindset of the previous character.

But the actor produced smiles and applause by realising the error and simply telling the audience "I'm just not myself today".

Justin said he was proud that Indian Ink, which he helped form, was the first company to put Indian stories on to the stage, and that was a great source of pride for the theatre company.

Jacob Rajan had been the first Indian to graduate from the New Zealand Drama School and since then there had been two more, to the company's delight.

"The new arrivals into New Zealand get their children into professions but they are also getting into the arts and that's great to see."

Justin said The Pickle King was an ongoing work in progress and constantly being adjusted and polished to ensure it fitted in with the audiences which turned up every night.

It is the third in a trilogy of plays produced by Indian Ink and joins Krishnan's Dairy and The Candlestickmaker - and Justin has another one in the planning stages although it is likely to be seen by US audiences first.

Its working title is Welcome to the Murder House and is about a dentist who has a rather grisly history.

"We will look at touring it here next year."

● The Pickle King. Napier Municipal Theatre; 7.30pm Thursday, May 4 and Friday, May 5.