Himanshu Sitlani and Neha Poduval in An IMM-Permanent Resident.Dahlia Katz/Supplied
- Title: An IMM-Permanent Resident
- Written and performed by: Neha Poduval and Himanshu Sitlani
- Director: Miquelon Rodriguez
- Company: Nautanki Bazaar, in association with Factory Theatre
- Venue: Factory Theatre
- City: Toronto
- Year: Runs to March 22
There are a few clichés when it comes to navigating the Canadian immigration system: No, you don’t have to hire a lawyer, but you’ll probably save yourself some trouble if you have one. Yes, applying to sponsor a spouse can feel ridiculously invasive. No, you don’t automatically become a Canadian when you marry one, and you may find yourself feeling a little more insane every time you have to answer that question – shouldn’t the clerks at Service Ontario and the CRA know that?
When An IMM-Permanent Resident premiered at the Theatre Centre in 2022, I remember feeling a sharp pain in my side, a jab of recognition – it was the first time I’d seen a play so candidly spell out the realities of Canadian immigration. At the time, I was on a student visa that felt like it would last forever, and my postgraduate work permit was all but guaranteed. I was on the very privileged end of the international student experience – white, English-speaking, casually employed in my field – but already, I saw a reflection of myself and my then-boyfriend in Neha Poduval and Himanshu Sitlani’s play, a searing examination of how immigration can whittle couples down into their rawest, brittlest selves.
Four years have passed since that auspicious premiere. The play was nominated for five honours at the 2022 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, and it’s since been published by Playwrights Canada Press. Poduval and Sitlani have further embedded themselves into the Canadian theatre scene. Speaking personally, I’ve since gotten married, and been through the gruelling process of applying for permanent residency through my now-husband.
An IMM-Permanent Resident, now playing in Factory Theatre’s cozy studio space, is much the same as it was on the tailwind of the pandemic, in good ways and bad. The show, written and performed by Poduval and Sitlani, follows the couple through their meet-cute in Mumbai to their eventual voyage to Canada, and then, horror of horrors, through the PR application process.
Sitlani and Poduval in An IMM-Permanent Resident.Dahlia Katz/Supplied
The resulting play spends much of its time on paperwork – filling it out, filing it, shredding it, hating it – but it’s just as sweet as the gulab jamun Poduval so loves from back home. Sitlani and Poduval’s chemistry is obvious and authentic, and there’s a dorkiness to their rapport that’s downright delightful to witness, from their carefree renditions of Drake’s Hotline Bling to scrappy skits about Canadian immigration officers.
But just as authentic as their mutual affection is the frustration and despair they recall feeling toward their applications, and, at their lowest points, toward each other. Poduval’s anguish, in particular, is scratchy and genuine – at one moment in the play, she lashes out at Sitlani for working erratic hours while she stays at home, unable to work or leave the country while her paperwork processes. It’s an ugly scene that vaults the play’s stakes into outer space – for a brief moment, we wonder if Poduval and Sitlani will make it to their next anniversary.
Four years ago, I might have found that sequence unfair to Sitlani, and even histrionic. But I’ve since had that exact argument with my own partner. Despite best intentions, the immigration process can bring out the worst in couples, even those who so clearly love each other as much as Poduval and Sitlani.
Where the Toronto revival of An IMM-Permanent Resident chafes, for me, is the extent to which the show has stayed the same since 2022. Miquelon Rodriguez’s staging still feels fringey and cheap; Jung-Hye Kim’s set, if you can call it that, still consists of just a few suitcases and cardboard boxes. Tushar Tukaram Dalvi’s lighting design, while efficient, doesn’t add much to Sitlani and Poduval’s storytelling, either.
In the time that’s elapsed since An IMM-Permanent Resident’s premiere, Canadian immigration has only become more charged: It’s harder to come here than it used to be, and tougher still to stay here long-term. Applying for permanent residency remains a bureaucratic nightmare. Indeed, Sitlani and Poduval’s show is achingly topical, and as such deserves a full-scale production – the play might benefit from more precise direction, as well as more intricate scenography. (This time around, I found myself craving photographs from the couple’s younger years, tactile mementoes of what they went through to tell their story to a Canadian audience.)
In the meantime, An IMM-Permanent Resident isn’t bad. It never was. But a story this personal, funny and fraught deserves a remount that amplifies the things it does well – not one that draws attention to the scrappiness both the Canadian theatre and Canadian immigration systems demand of the brave souls who choose to engage with them.