PATRICK MARMION reviews Indian Ink at Hampstead Theatre, London: Felicity Kendal triumphs in this revived classic from the late Tom Stoppard

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Indian Ink 

Hampstead Theatre, London

(Four stars)

What a trooper Felicity Kendal is. 

It’s understandably a very emotional experience for her to be performing in a revived play written by her late partner, Tom Stoppard, who passed away last month. This is especially true because she was already in rehearsals when he died.

Not only that, it’s a role Stoppard had written specifically for her, thirty years ago.

Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, the daughter of actor Andy Serkis, beautifully portrays the lead role with a calm and graceful presence. The story is set in 1930s England and India, and centers around Flora Crewe, a fictional poet who travels to India hoping to find relief from a serious case of tuberculosis.

She begins a relationship with a young artist who is painting her, and she writes letters to her sister, Nell, describing her experiences.

Now, Kendal plays Nell. Sixty years after the events, in 1990, she welcomes biographers of her sister, Flora, with tea and homemade cakes in her English country garden.

Even at 79 years old, Kendal still captivates audiences with her performance skills. Having spent her childhood in India, she convincingly portrays a character who fiercely defends British rule with sharp wit and intelligence.

She told the sister’s portrait artist’s son that he completely fell apart when we left, like Humpty Dumpty.

Okay, so Stoppard, he just handles this massive topic – British rule in India, can you believe it? – but he does it with this really… elegant, almost posh voice. It’s not a deep dive, honestly, it feels lighter than you’d expect for something so important, but it’s utterly captivating because of how he tells it. It’s like he’s effortlessly brilliant, even when dealing with something so heavy.

The play depicts Indians as appearing overly polite to the British, but also comically competitive with each other. While a love story exists between Flora and the artist Gavi Singh Chera, Flora still tends to dominate him and tries to make him more confident.

Oh my gosh, Ashbourne Serkis completely embodies Flora! She’s just breathtaking as this woman who’s fading away, and you can really feel her love for India – it’s so much more vibrant than anything she feels for those rigid, stuffy people back in Britain. Honestly, she’s perfect!

The performance is captivating and subtly mysterious, much like Kendal’s work. Despite spending the majority of the two hours and forty minutes of Jonathan Kent’s beautifully staged production sitting in their gardens, both actresses are consistently compelling and draw the audience in.

The most powerful part of the performance comes at the very end, when the characters share a look that acknowledges not only everything that’s happened in the story, but also the play’s own long history of being performed.

For all its antiquated but well meaning attitudes – it’s a warm tribute to the author.

Indian Ink runs until 31st January.

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2025-12-16 17:33