Tension builds up in the room. A woman is about to be murdered. Any moment, a psycho with a knife can break into her room and stab her to death. We all wait in baited breath, hoping the poor lady is rescued by someone. Coimbatore Art and Theatrical Society has begun their first play of the evening, Sorry Wrong Number , by Lucille Fletcher at On The Go. The play unfolds in the bedroom of Mrs. Stevenson, a neurotic, bedridden woman. She calls her husband, but she gets a wrong number and overhears someone planning a murder. Mrs Stevenson is terrified.
She reports the conversation to the police and even asks for protection. But no one takes her seriously and treat her as a mentally ill person. Chanda plays the lonely, scared old Mrs Stevenson.
The lighting especially deserves a mention. As Stevenson verges on a nervous breakdown the lights dim, creating more suspense. A few in the audience scream when a man with a knife enters and stabs Mrs. Stevenson. The second play called The Audition by Neil Simon stars Volobuyeva, a young aspiring actress (Tanvi Palaniappan) from Odessa who has come all the way to Moscow to try her luck on stage. She has her heart set on being an actress and is here to perform before a playwright, who she reveres. Tanvi is natural as the tensed and overawed young actress. Siddhartha plays the pompous, impatient director who auditions her. But it is funny how his voice softens when Volobuyeva flatters him by telling him how much she adores his work.
After the plays, the audience and the actors interact over a platter of pasta, chilly honey potatoes bruschettas, and ice cream, served by Ranjana Singhal and her team.
Says Tanvi, it is the first time she has carried off a whole play by herself. “It was different to have an entire stage to myself. It was liberating. You can act as if no one is watching you. It is similar to how you act in your room in front of a mirror.” Both the plays experimented with the voice and sound effects, says Siddhartha. “The first play is originally a radio play. So we had to experiment with audio effects such as the ring of the telephone, the operator voice, the engaged tone... And also conceive it in a supper theatre setting.” They also had to work a lot on voice modulation. Fortunately, the voice workshop, organised by CATS, with PC Ramakrishna, pioneer English newscaster on Madras Doordarshan, helped a few actors in the team. Says Chanda, “I worked with him on the same script. He reminded us that if we wanted our best voice on stage, the sound should come from the diaphragm and not the throat. But, the best takeaway was his tips on stage whisper, which I employed for this evening’s play. He said how one had to whisper on stage. He told us that you should not lower your voice because the dialogues have to be audible. So, instead we had to change our body language and make it look like we were whispering.”
The production saw a few new faces and young actors involved with the behind-the-stage arrangements. “I want someone else to take the mantle. It will be a lot more organised if we have more young people,” says Siddhartha. He also adds that he would like to make the supper theatre more tech savvy, employing modern light and sound system, and not limit it to a conventional production.
