A PERFECT GANESH
The Free Range Theatre Company is currently performing Terrence McNally’s A PERFECT GANESH at the Phoenix Theater in San Francisco.
Before you go scrambling for your Yiddish dictionary, Ganesh is not Yiddish.
You are probably thinking of “a perfect mentsh” which is Yiddish: a term deriving from the German word “mensch” for person.
Therefore the idiom “a perfect mentsh” basically translates into “a very good person.”
On the other hand “Ganesh” is an Indian deity, who according to Indian mythology (or religion: which ever conceit you choose) was the son of the goddess Parvati (no relation to Luciano Pavarotti).
Ganesh, a.k.a. Ganesa, was the sentry at his mother’s gate.
One day in his zeal, Ganesh attempted to prevent the ingress of the god Siva.
Gargantuan mistake.
The petulant Siva cut off the head of Ganesh.
Later as a conciliatory gesture, Siva has the head of an elephant attached to the decapitated body of Ganesh in order to resurrect him.
The resultant interspecies hybrid was Ganesh: the god of prosperity and success in every undertaking.
As a talisman, banks and businesses in India house statues of Ganesh, much like Chinese businesses in America house statues of the “ching ching” cash cats.
Many of the Judeo-Christian credo claim that all goodness comes from their monotheistic God.
In the Hindu pantheon, there is a differentiation of qualities or goodness: the qualities of prosperity and success in an undertaking are attributable to Ganesh.
Furthermore, it is the divine essence or spirit of Ganesh that pervades the consciousness of any person who is assisting another mortal in an undertaking.
If you stop to ask for directions, the person who provides you with the correct directions was, momentarily at least, imbued with the essence of Ganesh when he or she gave you the necessary guidance.
Now that the exegesis of Ganesh is out of the way: on to the play.
Two middle-aged women, ostensibly friends, who had traditionally spent their self indulgent holidays hedonistically languishing, shopping and sipping Mai Tais in the Shangri-las and Xanadus of the tropics, decide they are ready for the big one: Mother India.
Their arrival at the airport of embarkation with 7 pieces of luggage serves as a metaphor for the psychological baggage each is toting at the onset of their excursus.
At check-in time, when they discover their reservations have been lost, Ganesh is there, in the form of an Air India ticketing agent, to provide them with a free upgrade from their expropriated seats in business class, to their broad reclining seats in first class.
Their travel around the subcontinent is a form of psychotherapy: an unwinding of a sari to reveal the naked truths of life, to themselves and to each other.
Rather than remaining mere tourists, they become pilgrims on a Journey to the East and acolytes of Ganesh.
Ultimately they gain clarity, compassion and the ability to accept who they are and where they have been.
The process is subtle yet profound, and every step of it is invisibly guided by Ganesh.
When the trip is over and their lives resume in Connecticut, they are find themselves prepared to live authentically: experiencing, rejoicing, embracing and exalting in the miracle of life and
consciousness itself.
This is a very uplifting play.
If you are contemplating lathering up with SPF-40 sunscreen for Spring Break in Cancun, or a gaming hadj to the kitsch casinos of Las Vegas, or an opiating escape to some tropical pleasure dome, this play can be extremely useful in assaying the merits of your impending trip.
Four equity actors give this script the quality performance it deserves.
To reserve tickets, visit www.freerangetheatre.com or call the box office at (415) 383-5472.
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Jeffrey R Smith -- member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle