The play pulls an Inception to set the ball rolling. “How can you tell when you are dreaming, that you are dreaming?”, asked the robotic Wesley. The rhetoric gently places a seed in our minds. The constant tussle between passion and career is put to the fore. Another strong reference can be linked to Robert Frost's The road not taken . It draws upon a theme wondering if work and passion can ever be the same and if choosing work means letting go of your dreams. What we choose to do in life or we prioritise decides what we become or where we end up.
The play by popular city theatre group, Samahaara was indeed quite fetching. Written by Anjali Parvati Koda, directed by Stuart Denison and produced by Ratna Sekhar Reddy the script delves into the two sides of human personality. Dominic is the art-hungry, nature-loving creative in us; Wesley represents the practical and almost robot-like intellectual in us. The play is an attempt at exploring dreams and reality from two varied perceptions. It deals with what determines our choices, shapes our priorities and how we get to the finishing line. The theme runs around the conflict between wanting to pursue art as against a ‘normal' career. The artist or Dominic wants to revel in the beauty of life and nature, he thrives on creative thought and free thinking. The artist cannot be bound by chains. The machine or Wesley, is bound by a sense of responsibility and has no room for emotions. His arguments seem relevant and practical but with a dowdy attitude; an employer's delight nevertheless. Wesley ironically is one of Dominic's creations. The script and direction incorporate exceptional symbolism. Coming alive in the scene where Dominic and Wesley are seen tied to each other, depicting the conflict very well. There is also an interesting level of dominance portrayed by each character on the other, while the beginning sees a very powerful Dominic, towards the end, Wesley manages to suck Dominic into a web of insecurities and overpowers him. The murder of Dominic or the creative by Wesley, the machine proved to be a perfect end to this intelligent script.
Rahul Premchander, as Dominic had the grace and refinement to bring out the apt emotions. While Wesley or Abhinav Gomatam showed the shades of grey with absolute resolve. Both the actors had a great sense of comic timing, which worked very well for the implementation of the script.
Vikas Jain and Supriya as the other Wesley's managed to sustain the attention grabbed by Abhinav. Another interesting part was the creative use of a pre-recorded footage as television in the play. However the projections in other scenes were distracting. Overall it was a narrative, well worth the while.
