Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards

Performances at The Cottesloe, Royal National Theatre, London
between September 30^th 1996 and January 29^th 1997

A verse play by Peter Oswald adapted from an 18^th Century
work by Chikamatsu Monzaemon

Directed by John Crowley.

Parminder plays Kojiju (maid of honor of the empress) 
and Muzo (an outlaw)

Synopsis:

In a seemingly serene culture, four young lovers challenge both their elders' wisdom and the state's rigid order. Samurai culture and monastic Buddhism are part of an adventure in which love ultimately transforms the whole of society.

Review:

Written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon with a new verse by Peter Oswald, this 18th century Japanese play is about two Samurai soldiers and two maids of honour who fall in love. However, because of the law of their people they are not allowed to be together. When one of the maids becomes pregnant she and her lover are sentenced to death.

This is an interesting play that requires a certain taste. It has a lot of twists and turns and is funny in places. A tragic love story, a matter of honour and religion, will the good guys triumph over the bad guys?
The acting by all is convincing, with the best performances from Olwen Fouere who plays the caring 'Empress Kenrei Mon-In' and David Haig who plays the bad guy, Lord Morotaka.

The stage at the Cottesloe has been transformed again, with all the seats down the side aisles and all the action taking place in the middle. This worked very well , particularly with the center piece of the stage which moved from one side of the stage to the other when needed.

The Japanese music that is played throughout most of the play complimented it beautifully. It was very relaxing, so much so I noticed a few heads nodding off!.

Darren Dalglish, London Theatre Guide

(PNO note: A video recording of the production is archived at the National Theatre on London's South Bank).

 

Turning World

Originally broadcast in the UK on Channel Four commencing February 22^nd 1997

Screenplay by Mahmood Jamal
Directed by David Blair

Parminder plays Sabina

Synopsis:

A three part contemporary drama set in the isolated world of a crumbling Victorian asylum threatened with closure.

Part 1

Dr. Khan is a consultant psychiatrist at a hospital for the mentally ill who runs a strict, old-fashioned regime. When a new senior registrar and a new manager arrive to implement reforms, he finds himself at the centre of a bitter power struggle.

Part 2

The tranquillity of rural life and the insular world of the ageing mental institution is shattered with the arrival of a strange man.

Part 3

In the third and last part of the drama, Khan is in trouble; his abandoned wife is trying to get revenge and the authorities have advanced their plans for the hospital closure.

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