Jim Culleton

I was lucky enough to be on tour recently in India with a Fishamble production of King by Pat Kinevan.

The invitation came from the Irish Embassy in New Delhi, reflecting the strong links between both countries.

I had never been to India, or indeed Asia, before, so people were telling me what a culture shock was in store.

I expected to be mesmerised by the cultural differences, and I was, but I was also moved by many small acts of kindness and generosity we encountered during the trip.

We toured to three cities, Jaipur, Kolkata and Itanagar, up in the north-east of the country at the foot of the Himalayas.

In Jaipur and Kolkata, we were in beautiful art centres, and the audiences reminded me of similar audiences in Ireland who might go to see a touring production by an Indian company.

In Etanagar, a protected area which requires a special permit to enter, the reaction was a bit different.

The audiences were quieter throughout, so we were concerned that the play might not be resonating with them as strongly.

But then, after the performance, 300 people came up on stage, one by one, shaking hands with us and telling us how much it meant to them that we were there.

I doubted that I, or any Irish audience, would take the time to do the same.

In Jaipur, we were in the Rajasthan International Centre, a stunning building with many performance spaces.

There was a loud musical performance in the theatre next to ours, with the audience singing along to endless encores, so it was running well over time.

The staff simply decided to move the performers and the whole audience to a different space in the same building so we could have silence in our theatre.

As our performance went up almost an hour late, I suggested I might make a short speech to thank the audience for their patience and explain the reason for the delay.

Everyone looked at me like I had suggested something very bizarre indeed.

I learnt that it's not unusual in India for things to be late and the people are very relaxed about it.

Someone said to me that they heard Ireland's also a very relaxed place and I had to reveal that while this might well be our reputation, we are much less likely to be as patient as our Indian counterparts.

We were surprised to find that our play, which we usually advertise as suitable for over 14s, was deemed much more adult in India, with themes of mental health and colonialism.

Some audience members explained to me that Indian playwrights are not usually quite so provocative and don't tend to ask such controversial questions as our play did.

So before each performance, someone would announce that this was strictly for adults only and that anyone under 18 must leave the auditorium immediately as it was not suitable.