★ ★ ★.5

Reviewer - Jacqueline

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review

This week, the Festival Theatre is home to ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’. Based on Deborah Moggach’s best-selling novel (which went on to inspire the hit 2011 film) this play (directed by Lucy Bailey) tells the story of a group of British retirees who leave their old lives behind in favour of moving to an Indian retirement home.

Following the death of his father, hotel manager Sonny (Nishad More) takes on the role of ‘man of the house’, and the main companion to his overbearing mother. His grand idea is to turn the Marigold Hotel into a successful retirement home for elderly British ex-pats, but things don’t necessarily go to plan as countless problems unfold. More plays Sonny endearingly as a young man who is trying his best to please everybody but is unable to balance all of his responsibilities. His relationships with both his mother (Rekha John-Cheriyan) and girlfriend, Sahani (Shila Iqbal) blossom pleasantly throughout the plot and these are some of the best-developed characters in the show.

The ensemble of retirees are charming, though numerous. Though there were many warm moments between the characters as their lives became increasingly intertwined, it was challenging to become invested in anybody’s individual plotline. Throughout the first act, it felt as though each character and backstory was conveyed through a singular monologue of exposition, rather than gradually being pieced together as the act progressed. The cast did an excellent job with the content they were performing, though I wonder if the story could have been strengthened by having fewer characters but exploring each in more depth. The pace of the plot drastically picked up in the second act as the Marigold Hotel faced the threat of closure, and our retirees had to work with a group of local call centre employees to construct a plan to save the hotel from closure.

Throughout the plot, many challenging concepts were touched on such as differences between cultures such as food, the Hindu caste system, and the loneliness felt by the elderly when their families move on to new lives. However, these sub-plots generally weren’t explored in much depth, and I would’ve loved to have seen a bit more development. Something else that was unclear was when exactly this story is set. The original book was published in 2004 and the subsequent movie hit the big screen in 2011. The play includes a few references to ‘Gogglebox’, Zoom calls and “wokeness” which in some ways seemed jarring and out of place, especially to fans of the book and film.

The design of this production was definitely a strength, as the ramshackle hotel was built as a gorgeous three-dimensional model which was onstage for almost the entire show. Different sections of the hotel were lit and darkened accordingly to effectively convey changes in setting. However, the set model did feel somewhat swallowed up by the mammoth Festival Theatre stage, and the black backdrop that was visible through the windows and doors was a slight let-down. Perhaps for the West End production, a backdrop could be incorporated to further immerse audiences in the setting.

Overall, ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ is a warm and pleasant story with a lot of heart, culminating in a heartfelt and joyous finale which left many in the audience with a tear in their eye. I look forward to seeing how the production develops as it reaches its West End run as this show definitely has huge potential.