The notorious love triangle - husband, wife and the lover - the menage a trois has provided irresistible fodder for stories that have been crafted into novels, plays, poems and films. The theme is brilliantly invoked by Harold Pinter in his 1962 classic The Lover, where the audience is treated to riveting marital complexity arising from the many shades of desire and duty.
Bringing the tale on stage is the city’s newly formed theatre group that teasingly calls itself Forplay Productions. This is the group’s first offering. The scene of action will be at Forplay, 8th Cross Road, Panampilly Nagar, an intimate space that can host up to 80 people.
Sanal Aman, Seljuk Rustum and Santhy Balachandran, the trio behind the production came together serendipitously, just as they believe the idea of the play and the space came about, perchance.
Strangely, the three had crossed each other’s paths at different points in time over their evolving careers but finally entered into creative collaboration in July this year.
Sanal began his journey with theatre, drawn into the world of acting at a young age. He pursued theatre at School of Drama, Thrissur and University of Hyderabad, before joining the National School of Drama, New Delhi.
His passion for ‘live’ performance was cemented after being exposed to traditional theatre while learning Koodiyattam under celebrated exponent Gopal Venu. In the following years he played the lead in two feted films - Unto The Dusk and Éli Eli Lama Sabachthani , a multilingual film. He also features in Jayaraj’s latest release Veeram . Sanal savoured the experience of working in cinema but retained his love for theatre. “I then got connected to this space and the rest just came to be,” he says. With Forplay’s début production he aims to get back to acting in theatre and also establish himself as a director.
It was in the 2014 Kochi Muziris Biennale, where artistes of all kinds flock that Sanal had a chance meeting with Seljuk, a painter from Kannur. Seljuk is the quintessential dreamer, the seeker of art. An autodidact he has taught himself painting, carpentry, the nuances of music - folk, digital and classic. He has dabbled with strait-jacketed education - an engineering degree, MBA, only to give it up midway and pursue the road where it takes him. Seljuk speaks with conviction of a youngster discovering the arts in a way that he wishes to. For him success and failures are part of the journey. At this point he has put his money where the mouth is, in his cutting edge studio which has sleek recording set up, dubbing equipment and such. Having realised that their mutual interests and connections offered opportunities for collaboration, Sanal and Seljuk decided to set up Forplay Productions - a venture that encourages creative experimentation.
It was Seljuk who designed the poster for audition of The Lover that brought Santhy to their doorstep. Santhy is not new to the city having done part of her schooling here. Growing up, she was mentored by veteran artists T. Kaladharan, and P. Gopinath, which she considers a privilege, and has held painting exhibitions around the country. Currently she is completing her doctorate in Anthropology from University of Oxford.
When she walked in for the audition, she knew that it was a scene and space she would like to be associated with. Her earlier brush with theatre was playing the lead in Mahesh Dattani’s 30 Days in September , while at University in Hyderabad - the same year Sanal spent there but the two never met. “It has been eight years since I was last on stage. This will be my first ticketed show and I am thrilled to play Sarah - a woman who owns her desire,” she says with equanimity. Santhy will be playing the role of a wife who takes a lover by arrangement with her husband.
A lace canopy bed forms an attractive backdrop for the play, the setting put together by an equally enthusiastic team of friends who are passionate about theatre. Seljuk says that while his other two compatriots rehearse their lines and live music plays on from the adjacent band set he relishes the hard work the group has put in. “Ours is a collective that aims to bring together actors, musicians, writers and technicians. We plan to develop films, produce documentaries, perform theatre shows and create audio,video, multimedia art installations. We believe that creative expression is capable of connecting people from different backgrounds and are keen to share our space and collaborate with like minded people.”
Some of their future projects, Forplay Talks and Sessions, are workshops with exponents from the field of script writing, drama productions, acting classes, live music performances and such.
The idea behind founding the collaborative, creative space arose from the need for a space that took theatre seriously, “by its heart”. “Kochi’s theatre scene is still nascent and holds a lot of potential. Our dream is to connect talented people who are passionate about the arts and produce quality events for the city,” says Sanal. With Forplay, the young founders believe that they have created a space that will be at the heart of theatre in the city and one that has theatre in its heart.
The Lover will be performed daily from November 25-30 at 7. 30 p.m. For tickets contact: 9895104765
