The plot of Indian Ink, by Stoppard standards, is rather simple. Flora Crewe, an English poet with a bit of scandal in her past -- liaisons with H. G. Wells and Modigliani -- comes to India in 1930, develops a relationship with an Indian man and allows him to paint a nude portrait of her. Meanwhile she is wooed by an English officer stationed there, and we don't know how far either of her relationships went. Throughout her visit she writes letters home to her sister, and, concurrent with the 1930 story, we see the sister in the 1980s sharing Flora's letters with a man who is publishing a book about the poet. The two of them explore Flora's life and what intimacies she might have had.
Stoppard deftly weaves in a variety of themes, including politics, poetry, feminism, art and cars, and these digressions reinforce the story about Flora and her men. This is not as academic a play as Stoppard's The Invention of Love. (One scene at a party includes a witty discussion of the poetry of A. E. Housman, who was the subject of that play.) Actually, Indian Ink's closest affinity is to Stoppard's Arcadia, as the characters of a later time try to uncover the mysteries of the past. The references to British colonialism and Indian culture are never pedantic. Agitation for independence is in the air -- Gandhi's March to the Sea to protest the Salt Tax takes place during Flora's visit -- and one Englishman asks another why most Indians are content to have the Brits rule them. "Why not? We're better at it," replies the other, smugly.
The unraveling of British rule of India is a fascinating but daunting subject, and Stoppard's play is an easy and entertaining way to learn about it.
The Wilma production is gorgeous and pellucidly handles the switches between past and present, but it lacks eroticism. The play's characters speak repeatedly of the heat, and more steaminess is implied than just the weather. (Flora, writing a poem, says it's "about being hot," then says it's about sex.) When Flora appears nude in front of the Indian for the first time, she should show some awareness that she's tempting him, but she continually plays cool and detached.
Otherwise, Grace Zandarski is fine as Flora, and the rest of the cast is good. The real stars, however, are set designer David Gordon, lighting designer Jerold R. Forsyth and sound designer and composer Adam Wernick. The atmosphere they create and their transitions of locale are stunning. Wernick's music subtly blends pop songs from 1930 with original, emotional underscoring.
