The best advice I can give those who are going to Call Cutta in a Box is this: Go with your defences down, an inquisitive mind, and an open heart.  The consensus does seem to be that the less you know going into Call Cutta the better. So for those don’t want to be spoiled, read this review after you’ve seen it. But for those who can’t get to it, or just can’t help themselves, here is my experience.

At the New Performance Festival Box Office I’m given a map to an office building on Queen St. I go to Level 5 as directed and find myself in a law firm. A woman at the desk asks for my name then tells me to wait, then taps away on her computer ignoring me. It feels awfully authentic, however I recognise her as an Edge staff member, another man that comes past as an actor, another person a techie.  But for someone unaware of this conceit, I’d imagine they’d find it a bit disconcerting. I’m told they’re ready for me, and I enter a small room containing a desk, computer, pot plant, and couch. [More] 

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Are you nervous?” asks Mitasha “Mitu” Bhattacharya. Well yes, Mitu, thanks for asking; you’re a stranger in aCalcuttacall centre, hired to phone me on a crackly line as a theatrical performance. 

The geo-politics is loaded. I’m alone in an anonymous office, and I’m not sure what’s expected of me. But I needn’t have worried; I’m looked after like a child or psychotherapy client. Told to sit back and “open my shoes”, I can just follow instructions – asking questions if I want to – and all will be well. [More] 

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Call Cutta in a Box is arguably the most delightful, charming, engaging 50 minutes I have ever spent with a complete stranger. Celebrating the inherent performativity of everyday life, the” show” is co-performed by an audience  of one and a Kolkata-based call centre operator-performer, over the phone.

Some simple props set the scene –  an empty office in a mid-rise building in Auckland’s CBD. There are  three framed photos on the wall, tea-making facilities, a leather half-sofa, and a standard office desk with an internet-connected computer, walkaround phone, printer, potted fern, desk lamp, fan, and a promotional desk pad for Descon Limited, a Kolkata-based technology development company.

The 50 mins includes a series of “events”. Event one is finding the building to which your ticket directs you, event two is arriving into your office a couple of minutes prior to your scheduled phone conversation.  Others follow, with a series of pre-scripted  discussion topics which allow wriggle room for improvisational exchanges. The call centre performer is charged with keeping the pace up to ensure everything is completed within the time frame set.  Some simple devices are used to add a layer of piquancy and surprise to events, and these all add to a feeling of cultural exchange. Unsurprisingly, a web cam features in events.

To describe what was included in my 50 minutes with the ever-so-engaging Madhusree would be to disclose many of the elements that make this experience so charming — and as I would encourage everyone who can do so to take the time for this singularly rich experience, I will not disclose  them.

I can say, without giving too much away, that our conversation was wide-ranging, and that Madhusree and I proved to have much in common. Our rich two-way exchange of personal and family information included sensory impressions, weather conditions in Auckland and Kolkata, dreams and regrets, travel, work, favourite foods and music, along with some of the philosophical and religious aphorisms which guide one’s life.

I came away feeling that I had been talking with an old friend to whom I had not spoken in a while, and that it would not be long ’til our next conversation. Ongoing email exchanges seem likely.

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