Chicago Tribune - Not Recommended
"..."Disconnect," the aptly named new play by Anupama Chandrasekhar at the Victory Gardens Theater, is set in a collection agency in Chennai, India, where smart, ambitious and energetic young Indian workers assume pseudonyms like Jennifer and Michelle and try to persuade deadbeat citizens of the state of Illinois to pay their bills. It is not hard to anticipate the themes: the workers feel like they are a part of Chicago, even through they never have been there, and they live the irony of living in a poorer country and telling profligate, or recession-hit, Americans that their bills are past due. As such, much of the action, or what passes for the action in a very messy show, takes place with characters sitting at their desks and talking on the phone to Chicago.'
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Chandrasekhar has written a play full of fast, brash, funny dialogue (much of it wildly overlapping and no doubt mind-boggling to the splendid actors). As the call center workers sit at adjoining desks with their headsets on, they alternately adhere to their "script-books" or, as becomes the dangerous case here, ignore them in favor of improvisation, role-playing and false intimacy. So, lurking behind all the comic, instantly recognizable "office behavior" is a very modern tragedy. And it definitely connects."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Chandrasekhar's play encompasses many provocative ideas, their urgency escalated by our immediate identification with these wayfarers in a swiftly changing culture and economy. As our own lifestyles collapse under unforeseen circumstances, we are justifiably humbled by this reminder of the difficulties faced by brave young pioneers taking the first clumsy steps on the road to prosperity."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...First produced at London’s Royal Court, Disconnect receives its U.S. premiere in Ann Filmer’s attractive staging at Victory Gardens. It’d be nice to see Chandrasekhar, a former journalist still early in her playwriting career, get a stronger handle on structure. Her opening scene, for instance, misleads us into thinking the group’s aging supervisor is the protagonist rather than the supporting character he turns out to be. One also hopes Sanyal could better modulate his performance: His Ross is turned up to antisocial 11 pretty much throughout. Still, the continuing introduction of beguiling new voices to Victory Gardens is a trend to be encouraged."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"... This is a smart, well acted, especially by Debargo Sanyyal as Ross, drama about a contemporary issue of outsourcing and its consequences for both Americans and Indians. Our concept of a global village is given a fresh look for the perspective of Indian 20soemthings. Disconnect is worth dialing into."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...There is a great deal of tension in the buildup of the transgressions and the effects, but since what happens is important to the ending, I will not divulge it all here, so as not to destroy how Filmer and Chandrasekhar get us there. This is one hour and forty five minutes ( no intermission) filled with witty drama and a story that opens our eyes to what can happen to a group of people who are forced to live a lie in order to ear a living. Again, they are not stealing or scamming the people they call, only trying to collect a debt that is in fact owed by the debtor. It is the way they operate that makes them "hated" by the average person. They continue to call and make you feel like they are "here to help", when all they want is to "close the deal"."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Recommended
"...I liked "Disconnect" more while it was unfolding on the Victory Gardens stage than when I considered the show afterward. Much of my admiration while watching came from the turbulent final scenes that carry the spectator along on the sheer intensity of the performances. That intensity drains away a bit upon further reflection in the minutes following the final curtain. There is a fascinating cross-cultural story to be told, using the Indian customer service callers as a template for the shifting global cultural landscape we hear so much about. "Disconnect" may not entirely be that play but it still has its moments of insight and humor, and Debargo Sanyal's performance is a keeper."
Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended
"... Disconnect here not only refers to a disconnection between cultures. There is also a significant disconnect between generations as the play begins with manager Avinash being demoted from the “hot” New York floor to the more passive Illinois focused cubicles by his boss . This boss, played by Arya Daire, attempts to keep the office fun through a liberal use of smiley stickers while flouting her experience at a U.S. college. Avinash, as he is often reminded, is a man of the last generation who has little use for corporate niceties (or even pop for that matter). He does not want to be liked, just respected. Once settled in to his new “region,” Avinash begins a futile attempt at shaping his employees into an image of an Older India where rules are tight and collectors always follow the manual."
