Issue date: 2/12/09 Section: Arts and Culture

Media Credit: Fenstar Productions Photo: Gloria Nieto

Media Credit: Fenstar Productions Photo: Gloria Nieto

Media Credit: Fenstar Productions Jiwani on her quest to find love Photo: Gloria Nieto

With her biological clock ticking like a time bomb, Priti is in her mid-thirties and on a quest for 'the one'. It's 30 Dates, the brilliant comedy written by and starring Fenulla Jiwani.

The narrative method is complex: speed-dating, voice-overs, asides, projected pictures, musical interludes, and documentary-style commentary on the mating habits of praying-mantis all combine to tell the tale of Priti's 30 dates.

The production itself is simple, but well-done. The troupe of men who surround Jiwanias Priti are hilarious as they each take on several characters, and keep entertaining with their between-the-scenes antics. Priti's dates themselves are side-splitting-intermingled with a few nice guys are a laundry list of duds. Two men of questionable sexuality, a mama's boy, several sleazes, one still-married, one post-traumatic-break-up, one never-called-back, and so on until they all begin to blur together. The play is a bit hectic as it continually changes focus. Issues such as dating with South Asian cultural demands, different approaches to dating venues and advice, the nature of Priti's expectations, and questions as to why this quest for a fellow is so difficult all make an appearance.

After the show, I manage to chat with the lovely Jiwani. When I briefly mentioned my own situation of prolonged singledom and subsequent pressure to match up (even at age 20!), she laughs and nods in understanding. But while she plays the single woman in search for love, in reality Fenulla is a happily married woman. Potential awkwardness: is a married woman allowed to make us laugh at the plight of single-thirty-something females? Was she ever concerned about walking that fine line between compassionate comedy, and derision, especially since there are moments when Priti's desperation and failure to grasp the obvious warning signs that her date isn't 'the one' are often the focus of laughs.

Fenulla assures me that it's never been an issue. After taking a trip to the ladies room, I can readily believe her. The women in the line-up are in hilarious conference, swapping stories of their own karaoke dates, bad-breath suitors, and gentleman-callers who never called back. Actually the conversation was so enlightening that it warranted a second trip to the restroom a few minutes later, (wedged between washroom stalls this is journalism at its finest), simply to stand in line and listen-in once more.

This play speaks to them: single women in their late twenties/early thirties who have come out en masse to see this production. They congregate in large groups as they head out having a good laugh at their still-single state together. Clearly this is what I was missing; the thematic organization, or enlightening realization I was looking for in the play is absent for a reason. This is a true depiction: the bad date guys start to blur together, the approach to dating changes but it doesn't improve, and there is no serious fault with Priti who doesn't have any Norman Bates-esque qualities to drive men away. She doesn't want to give up on the idea of a nice fellow, a wedding and some kids; she just hasn't found the right guy yet and there is no honest answer why. The end of the play leaves Priti's quest on a hopeful note but without a definite conclusion.

This is realism, and the women who come to see this play appreciate that as much as they appreciate the laughs.

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