REVIEW: Hansal and Geetal at Etcetera Theatre 14 – 22 November 2025
'leaves you smiling and has some strong moments, but it is not (yet) working as a whole‘ ★★
‘I am a grown-up individual, playing an 8-year-old. I need my space.’
Two ‘children’ (one over 6 foot, with deep stubble), dressed in red braces, stare fidgeting out at the audience. Silence. More silence. Then giggles.
‘Today for the science project, we are presenting human anatomy.’
And thus begins the story of a brother and sister who are the despair of their parents and their teachers. Like their fairytale originals, this Hansal (Sachin Sharma) and Geetal (Shreya Parashar) find themselves turned away from home and banished—not to a deadly forest, but to a boarding school, to mend their trickster ways.
Sharma and Parashar have performed together for a long time, and it shows in their easy rapport. But although Hansal and Geetal leaves you smiling and has some strong moments, it is not (yet) working as a whole.
The production is at its best when it leans into surrealism—a slow-motion thumb war set to Mozart's Requiem is a particular highlight. At one point, a witch wanders on and considers the dinner menu. ‘Would you like your carrots with yourself?’ she asks Hansal politely.
But this interactive clown show, as it bills itself, doesn't go all-out enough to abandon claims to themes and storylines. And those themes are still a bit of a muddle. Points are made about identity and culture (‘It's Geetal, not Gretel!’)—parenting (‘Are you proud of me, Daddy?’)—and childhood dreams. The siblings occasionally stare longingly at the phone, waiting for their parents to call, but there is no real tension, no real stakes. A prior production by the duo used clowning to offer a biting satire of colonialism, and a similar clarity of purpose would have been welcome here.
Structural tweaks could have helped as well. Some jokes are overplayed or over-explained. The audience interactions at first required much coaxing; early group work might have sped up the timeline on everyone feeling comfortable joining in. For once that point was reached, the performers' improv skills shone.
Hansal and Geetal feels like a duo workshopping their new material, with both the charm and pitfalls that implies.
Part of Voila Festival
Creator/Performer: Shreya Parashar
Creator/Performer: Sachin Sharma
