A collaboration between the National Theatre of Parramatta and La Boite Theatre, Yoga Play’s two-hour run time moves through conversations about capitalism, cultural appropriation and race swiftly and surely. Written by Indian-American playwright Dipika Guha, and directed by Mina Morita, the satirical comedy stretches out laughs while it takes a dig at the yoga-consumerism industrial complex, and all that comes with it.
The play follows Joan (Andrea Moor), the newly appointed CEO of ‘Jojomon’, a fictionalised yoga apparel company with a strangely familiar name, as she attempts to raise company sales following a series of ethical scandals that she rebrands as an ‘authenticity crisis’. Alongside her ragtag executive team, consisting of Raj (Nat Jobe) and Fred (Jemwel Danao), she looks to salvage the business and earn back the trust of customers a little too desperately. With help from a rotating number of supporting characters (played off seamlessly by Camila Ponte Alvarez and Thomas Larkin), she does in the end, more or less get what she wants, though not in the way she anticipates.
Moor’s Joan is a natural leader, callous and ambitious, and not afraid to turn to a little blackmail when needed. While she shines when in authority, her moments of vulnerability doesn’t come off as genuine as needed for the audience to wholly feel sorry for her. Jobe and Danao however fill those gaps, mostly hitting all the right notes when it comes to the satire turning into a more serious social commentary. Although there is room written in to explore Raj’s hesitant relationship with his South Asian heritage, the writing falls a bit short in exploring the topic with a certain gravity it needs. Yoga Play is a satire, yes, but the comedy sometimes overpowers the commentary more than should.
The fallbacks of the writing could be passed off, however, by the ingenuity of James Lew’s set and Kate Baldwin’s lighting. With rock cushions adorning the stage, coupled with a wavy cut-out that contains a screen for the multimedia segments and a range of warm-toned lightning and dimmed and brightened at the perfect moments to amplify audience laughter, the production elements unified the show and smoothed over the cracks. The corporate atmosphere was definitely felt, and played off with the performances perfectly.
Overall, Yoga Play didn’t teach me anything I didn’t already know. The cultural commodification of yoga has been on my mind since a white man from Bondi who ran the yoga classes in high school sport told me that everyone in India wakes up at 5am to practise yoga. But it made me laugh, loudly and unashamedly, and feel a little seen, and considering that was Guha’s ultimate goal, I would say Yoga Play achieved the not-so-lofty heights it aimed to climb.
Yoga Play runs until October 26 at Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. Tickets can be found here.
