Guards at the Taj (2018)
Underground Railway Theater - Cambrdige, MA
"Celestial luminary that it is, Guards at the Taj will break your world and put it back together again. If not for the amazing acting and stagecraft, then watch it for its glorious beating heart."
--Johnson Huynh, The Tech
Written by Rajiv Joseph
Directed by Gabriel Vega Weisman
Stage managed by Maegan Alyse Passafume
Scenic Design by Grace Laubacher
Lighting Design by Reza Behjat
Properties Design by Nina Alexander
Costume Design by Leslie Held
Sound Design by Ben Emerson
Fight Choreography by Angie Jepson
Dramaturgy/Assistant directed by Joe Stallone
"Friends since childhood, their names are Humayun and Babur, portrayed by Jacob Athyal and Harsh J. Gagoomal, respectively. Both actors deliver marvelously textured portrayals; Humayun and Babur may ultimately be pawns in a large and ruthless game, but Athyal and Gagoomal endow them with an individuality and specificity that elevates the moral and emotional stakes of “Guards at the Taj.’’
...
"Athyal and Gagoomal deftly handle the transition from the darkly comic tone that prevails in the beginning of “Guards’’ to the aura of horror that then asserts itself, and then they vividly delineate the interpersonal fallout of that horror. As Gagoomal’s Babur rebels against what he sees as a threat to the very idea of beauty while Athyal’s Humayun responds to a different kind of threat, the actors make us feel at every moment how much their actions are costing the friends."
--Donn Aucoin, The Boston Globe