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Dipika Guha’s “Yoga Play” is a hoot, a sendup of culture clashes and stereotypes about business, race and spirituality. Looking back on the evening, one can recall a dozen memorable moments of delicious comedy. Oddly, what also turns up is a feeling that an opportunity was lost.
“Corporate yoga” is a seeming oxymoron that’s just ripe for the picking. But here we are, at the HQ of Jojomon, a multibillion-dollar producer of yoga accessories and fashions. Joan (Kristin Walter), is a straightforward business type, recently recovered from a much-whispered mental breakdown. She’s now expected to take the Jojomon reins while the company founder, John Dale (Chris Mahle), recovers from the loss of a colleague who poked fatal fun at “plus-size” yoga togs.
Naturally, things quickly go awry. An overseas supplier is caught using child labor, and a company founded on integrity has to go into PR scramble mode. Joan comes up with the idea of finding a bona fide Indian guru to vouch for Jojomon’s authenticity. The flashpoint arrives when said guru is not precisely what he makes out to be (and let’s leave it at that).
The production is immediately ingratiating. Camryn Lang’s set, with its tangerine walls and candle nooks, looks like a great place to hang out and clear one’s chakras. The opening meeting makes use of a Zoom call, which is both relatable and useful for displaying Mahle’s cartoonishly bereaved expressions (one almost feels guilty for laughing at such a sad, sad man).
As Joan, Walter gives the show a solid center, her anxiety popping up on a regular basis. She reminds me of sitcom star Nancy Travis, and shares her vivacity and likeability.
It’s also amusing the way yoga practices invade the office space. The staff takes regular timeouts for breathing exercises, and employees are encouraged to take part in sessions of dream interpretation.
The dreams related by Fred and Raj (Joshua Bao and Kartic Bhargav) are often both hilarious and gross, but one of Fred’s dreams reveals his primary life issue. Back in Singapore, where he’s from, he could be arrested for simply holding another man’s hand in public, and there’s a man in Singapore whose hand he would desperately like to hold.
Yoga teacher Ramola (Jaime Melendez) has her own culture clash, dealing with celebrity egos while attempting to instruct a supposedly egoless spirituality. She also delivers the best bit of physical humor, posing a newbie in one suggestive pose after another while carrying on a nonchalant conversation with his colleagues.
So what’s the problem here? The first comes when the crisis point hits and our playwright goes too far into sitcom mode. It gets laughs, but not the high-quality, knowing laughter that theatergoers crave. The second is overselling. Guha draws out Joan’s anxieties to the point where it’s just not funny anymore. In another scene, Fred’s attempts to speak in fake Hindi are immediately hilarious but go on far too long.
The final and most crucial oversell is perhaps somewhere between the playwright and director Gary Landis. The general reaction to the revelation of the guru’s fatal flaw is so over-the-top it’s kind of weird. How about trusting your audience to get the joke? I was much more entertained by the performance of Mahle, who played our mystery guru with not much more than facial expressions, long silences and a delicious Indian accent (Kimily Conkle, dialect coach).
This play contains, at its heart, an underlying theme of disconnection. Raj is disconnected from his Indian ancestry, Fred from his true love in Singapore, and Joan from her non-business, authentic self. It would have been better to start with that and let less artificial situations drive the comedy.
All that said, I know that immigrants and yoga fans (no shortage of either hereabouts) will especially enjoy this show. The criticisms presented here are more on the level of a B student who could have earned an A.
Los Altos Stage Company presents “Yoga Play” through Feb. 15 at Bus Barn Theater, 97 Hillview Avenue, Los Altos. Tickets are $25-$48. losaltosstage.org/yoga-play-2
