Script Analysis

(Set Design - Czerton Lim)

Published in 1997, Harvest is a realist play with heavy absurdist undertones set in India's near future. Padmanabhan cleverly uses this formula to convey the overall sanitized yet insane view of the First World and how it interacts with the Third World’s perspective. Given that the human body is the main tool used to pick apart the essence of this story, theatre is the perfect art form in which to do this. Theatre itself is the approach of every art form combined and projected through the human body as a unit. Knowing this and using multiple forms of theatre, Padmanabhan’s play turns out to be a whimsical yet horrific work of art. 

This play, given its style, also does an excellent job at bringing up the topic of globalization. The wide-spreading business being organ harvesting, and the title “Harvest” referring to such. Additionally, the stark contrast between the First World characters and their behaviors (mispronouncing names, well-kept, rich, essentially fake), and the Third World characters and behaviors, cause this topic in the play to be undeniable. Another leading prompt in this play is its acknowledgment to how much the First World actually takes advantage of the Third World and its resources. Whether it be organ harvesting or any other form of advantage for our First World, this topic is one that should be confronted, even today. 

(Set Design - Czerton Lim)

Quote from Wadsworth Anthology: “For Harvest brilliantly allegorizes the relationship between the First and Third Worlds, literalizing the fundamental practices of globalization as its central dramatic situation: the Third World provides the raw materials that the First World consumes for its own survival and expansion” (Worthen, 1725).

Source Cited: 

Worthen, W. B. “The Wadsworth Anthology of Drama by W.B. Worthen - Reviews, Discussion, 

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