Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Gothic revival
|
The cast and crew of Creeper, to be staged this weekend, rap about the play
|
To the limit Abhishek Majumdar
It took six years for writer-director Ram Ganesh Kamatham to put together the script for “Creeper”, a play starring Mallika Prasad as narrator and Abhishek Majumdar as sutradhar. “A modern re-imagination of the tale of Vikram and Betal”, Ram says the text stemmed out of his research from the folktales of Ujjain, and a visit to a temple at Thottikenara in Kerala where exorcism is practised. Then, in 2007, on a Charles Wallace scholarship at the Royal Court Theatre’s International Residency for Emerging Playwrights in London, and as a Sarai-CSDS (Centre for the Study of Developing Societies) Independent Research Fellow in Delhi, the play took form. “Since childhood, it was always interesting for me to look at ancient psychiatric treatment in both the Christian and Hindu mythological contexts.”
Ram feels that “Creeper” is a contemporary re-invention of the gothic. “It is about wandering in the graveyard, which is macabre”, he says. “The Orkut profiles of friends who have passed away still remain, and we keep scrapping saying that we missed them.”
Abhishek, also a Charles Wallace scholar and Mayavaan-founder announces: “I am going to read this interview for references on what to say this play is about!” Holding the two infamous heart-dotted glasses on the table at India Coffee House on M.G. Road, he turns them around. “It is about the insider-outsider scenario in Bangalore”, he says looking at Ram. For Abhishek and Ram, who feel they are polar opposites, “Creeper” was an exciting and fun script.
For National School of Drama graduate, Mallika Prasad, who has been acting since 1990, this play has been a completely different experiment. “I am more of a traditionalist – used to scripts with a beginning, middle and end and flats and wigs. It bothered me initially as the script is a story told in pockets with a loose structure.” She laughs, “It was an interesting experience as you kept getting things thrown at and you had to catch it!”
With 10 shows performed in Bangalore, Delhi and Heggodu, there have been varied responses to “Creeper”. Say the three: “In a theatre-space like Ranga Shankara, people are forced to sit up and watch as they have bought tickets. Whereas, at the Neenasam workshop in Heggodu, the play had a contemporary cutting edge.”
Ram feels: “The play is essentially in conflict, there is a disagreement between the storytellers in the way it juxtaposes the battleground of old Bangalore versus new. This is a play that is poised in the centre of influx, of new elements replacing or co-existing with the fading old elements of the city.”
The director who has also worked in films, concludes, ‘“Creeper’ is a stage-play that is pushed to its limits, where one can’t slam it on screen.”
“Creeper” will be staged on May 3 at 7.30 p.m. and May 4, 3.30 and 7.30 p.m. at the Nani Arena, Centre for Film and Drama, 5th Floor, Sona Towers, 71, Millers Road. Tickets, priced at Rs. 150 are available at the venue. Call 9845602265. Visit www.addledbraindump.blogspot.com
AYESHA MATTHAN
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
|
