Past is Present is documentary theatre that explores the notion of family in a globalised, technologically-advanced world. The director, Corinne Maier says it is difficult to exactly define the genre. “I’m always a bit uncertain of the answer to that question,” says the Basel-based, Swiss theatre director. “There is no way to say documentary theatre is like this or that because there are so many different types. In documentary theatre there is a basic connection but has various commentaries brought together. We document photos, diaries, newspaper clippings, videos.”
Past is Present has been created by Maier from personal video footage of the protagonist, Shaheen Dill Riaz. Shaheen, who studied art history and cinematography in Berlin and Potsdam and has received several awards for his documentary films, has family spread across four continents and five countries. While Shaheen has been living in Berlin for 20 years, his parents live in Bangladesh, brother in New York, sister in Sydney, and his son in Warsaw. “I met Shaheen when I moved to Berlin. I helped him write a film treatment. He started to shoot some situations in his family, but the film ultimately didn’t happen. A year later, I wanted to do something with family life. So I had talk with my dramaturge, and the topic of Shaheen’s film treatment came up.”
What interested her most in creating the play, Corrine says, is how distance affects a family. “What happens with distance, and communication only through email and text, is conflicts become bigger. Some families don’t speak the same language. Initially, Shaheen’s son spoke Polish and German and Shaheen’s mother speaks Bengali and English. Now his son speaks English. But in his earlier years, he didn’t.”
The play though scripted, is an attempt to blur the lines between fact and fiction. “We rehearsed several weeks. We put our video material and began improvising.” On stage, together with co-actor, Anne Haug Shaheen will “dissect himself” and explore his relationship with his family. “We wanted to look at the possibilities of telling the story in a playful way. Shaheen and Anne had to get to know each other. It was a long process because Shaheen has never been on stage before,” says Corrine, who studied Cultural Science and Aesthetic Practice at the University of Hildesheim in Germany and now produces her own theatre performances in different constellations. For research, Corrine says she happened to watch a lot of documentary style plays. “I read a lot on sociological questions on documentary theatre. But after a point, we just began rehearsing.”
Past is Present is a Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council presentation in partnership with Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bengaluru, National Centre for the Performing Arts Mumbai and Adishakti. Bengaluru’s Sandbox Collective is the executive producer.
The play will be staged on February 2 and 3 at Ranga Shankara at 7.30 p.m. Tickets are priced at Rs. 200 and are available on bookmyshow.com and the venue. The play will next travel to Adishakti in Pondicherry and to NCPA in Mumbai.
