Three men are seated across a table waiting for a panel discussion on television to begin. Two of them are well known for their portrayals of Hitler, while the third, the youngest of the three, has played Goebbels. As they wait an argument breaks out. What happens next unfolds in the play, A Little Calm Before The Storm directed by Vandana Prabhu.
Says Vandana in an email interview: “ A Little Calm Before The Storm is a dark comedy about three German actors of different generations who have come together for a public discussion on portraying evil, Hitler in particular, on stage. It ends up however, with bruised egos and ideological debates on life in the theatre and outside.”
Written by Theresia Walser, Vandana came across the German play at Goethe Institut’s German Spotlight series where directors are invited to play readings. “Out of all the scripts, this one struck a chord. I was looking for something that would appeal to an Indian audience the way it’s been written as I believe a good script can stand on its own if interpreted and performed with thought. I enjoy absurd theatre and found the conversations in this play witty and universal, barring a few specific German references. Who hasn’t heard of Hitler? And yet, who has given thought to what an actor must go through to portray Hitler, especially if he is German,” says Vandana. So she was game for it when Sandbox Collective, a creative services organisation that curates and produces performances, approached her to direct a full fledged production of the play for a festival.
According to Vandana, the English translated script was given to her by the Goethe Institut. “There are a few contextual aspects that we need to research to better understand the script but I don’t think this will be a problem from an audience’s standpoint if performed as intended. The 65-minute-long play has only three characters, all male, on stage. Kanchan Bhattacharrya, Roy Sinai and Kinjal Majumdar play the characters on stage.
“Both Kanchan and Roy are experienced, thinking actors who I’ve performed with in the past. Kinjal is relatively new and fitted with the character of the younger actor I had in mind. The play relies heavily on the actors to pull their weight and deliver the finer nuances of the text and I must say they have been open to working on this down to the last detail,” says Vandana, who adds that they rehearsed for two months before opening. “It is not a forgiving script so a rigorous rehearsal process was a must.”
The play, which first opened at Rangashankara, has had reruns in smaller venues in Bangalore. The play will be travelling to Thiruvanthapuram and Kochi and will be performed at a later date at Jagriti Theatre in Bangalore.
Vandana Prabhu
An electrical engineer from BITS Pilani, Vandana, who has directed David Linday-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole and Roald Dahl’s The Twits and acted in plays such as Sarah Ruhl’s Deadman’s Cellphone , Anita Nair’s A Twist Of Lime and Miro Gavran’s All About Women discovered the love for theatre while preparing for the character of Lady Bracknell from Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest as part of her Trinity College London Speech and Drama examination in school.
“I have always loved languages and studied speech and drama in my teens. I enjoyed inhabiting the world of characters and bringing to life the written word through performance. I had wonderful mentors who nurtured my interest in theatre and encouraged me to never give it up. I like the fact that there are no retakes in theatre. You just get one chance to create a believable character in this alternate world,” she says.
The 44-year-old Mumbaiite, who is settled in Bangalore is currently acting in Girish Karnad’s Yayati , directed by Arundhati Raja, which has recently been doing the rounds outside Bangalore.
A Little Calm Before The Storm will be staged in Thiruvananthapuram on March 23, 7 pm at Goethe Zentrum Amphitheatre . Entry is open to the public. Contact 2300777
