The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – expats explore colonialism, call centres, the caste system and Indian cuisine in this stage adaptation (Grand Opera House until Saturday 10 June)

A group of retirees fly out to Bangalore on one-way tickets to live out their last days in a dilapidated hotel as it’s cheaper than residential accommodation in England. No, this isn’t a UK government policy initiative gone wrong, but the fictional premise of Deborah Moggach’s novel These Foolish Things that was turned into a hit movie. The play currently on stage in the Grand Opera House is based on the book but borrows the better-known film’s title: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

While the first few minutes are somewhat heart-in-mouth as English and Indian stereotypes are rapidly voiced, the tone settles down – along with the guests – into the rhythm of life in a hotel which has seen better days. Death and loss have touched the lives of the residents and the staff, leaving most of them somewhat lacking in the joy department. Meanwhile the hotel’s books don’t add up, the telephones are on the blink, the chef is unruly, and it’s not certain that the Kapoor family know how to keep the place running. A recipe for disaster? Or the ingredients for a celebration of hope and rejuvenation through grieving and growing old?

The first act explores the comedy potential of the English guests: a left-leaning couple (Eileen Battye and Paul Nicholas) who are always off exploring; a working-class woman (Marlene Sidaway) who cleaned for a living; a Telegraph-reading misogynist (Graham Seed), an outspoken three-times divorcee (Belinda Lang), a rather timid widow (Tessa Peake-Jones), and a woman for whom the hotel is stirring up old memories (Paola Dionisotti). Add to this an Indian mother (Rekha John-Cheriyan) who has her youngest son Sonny (Nishad More) firmly in her clutches and could rival any Irish mammy for holding onto her own secrets.

Colin Richmond’s distressed hotel courtyard is brimming with detail (look carefully and you’ll spot the Charles and Diana engagement photograph) and anchors nearly every scene of the play. The soundscape (Mic Pool and Kuljit Bhamra) portrays the hotel as an oasis of calm that is somehow beyond the earshot of the normally overwhelming bustle of busy Bangalore. While the capable cast lay out the first layer of each character’s emotional baggage and motivation, it becomes slightly tired and mundane, and when the house lights flicked on for the interval, much of last night’s audience were audibly bemused that the action had come to such an abrupt halt.

The pacing is hugely improved in the second act, with foreshortened scenes rekindling an all-but-dead youthful romance, and the central ‘bait and switch’ revelation about the hotel’s precarious future really ramping up the sense of urgency to bang heads together and find a communal solution. Finally, vigour and zest can be found in abundance. The play’s conclusion is neat … right up until the moment director Lucy Bailey jumps the shark with a dance routine to round off the evening. Seemingly, no touring production is complete without a megamix.

Moggach’s script deftly deals with all the Cs: colonialism, call centres, the caste system, and Indian cuisine. There’s a sensitivity in how the play celebrates and critiques Indian culture without ever painting English ways as superior. And throughout the play, alongside the characters exploring their value in society as senior citizens, there’s a reminder that veteran actors are versatile and can deliver nuanced crowd-pleasing performances alongside their younger peers. Hats off to Shila Iqbal who brings sweet charm to her role as ‘Sonny’s girlfriend’ as well as to Anant Varman’s sympathetic portrayal of hotel sweeper Tikal.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel continues its run at the Grand Opera House until Saturday 10 June before heading to the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry for the final week of the production’s UK and Ireland tour.

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