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Now showing, ‘Reality’
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Theatre Y’s production ‘Reality’ introduced a radically new format. There were four shows everyday for three days, like a movie
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Photo: M. Vedhan
Reflection of the timesFrom ‘Reality’
Starving for your art has ceased to be romantic.
After all, in these days of slick marketing, there’s no excuse for wilting away prettily in a suitably dark garret. Artists have cocktail parties. Singers have You Tube. And, theatre, not to be left behind, is getting increasingly efficient at self-promotion. And a good thing too. It’s the only way the cityscape will stay vibrant with a variety of plays, drawing in enthusiastic audiences for everything from comic capers to intense experimental works. Theatre Y’s latest experiment, conducted over the past weekend, was to introduce a radically new format for their latest production. The plays were staged four times a day, starting at 1 p.m. right up till 10 p.m. for three days. This approach treated live theatre like a movie, enabling audiences to drop in at any convenient time.
The night show, in particular, — the city’s first ever — was a practical move to make the play accessible to working professionals. (After all, the days of working from 9 to 5 are long gone, with people getting stuck at their desks till 7 or 8 p.m., at the very least.)
A theatrical adaptation of monologues written by Manjula Padmanabhan, Theatre’s Y’s production “Reality” was both serious and intense, featuring murderers and bigots, twisted truths and violence . Which must have been exhausting for the actors given the fact that they had to perform their emotionally taxing roles repeatedly, four times every day, with very little time to recover between the shows.
Nevertheless the production was steady and reasonably professional. It helped that the plays were powerful, and easy to identify with, especially in the current climate rife with communal violence and senseless killings. There were however weak links that slowed down the production. The piece that featured the reading out of a thousand names, for instance, which droned on and on maddeningly monotonously.
On the plus side, it did set the mood for some rather disturbing reflection on the state of the world. Shruti Gupta was particularly good in her role as a flippant radio jockey dismissing phone-calls reporting violence with giggles and an infuriating faith in misleading government statements. The role was particularly chilling because of the brilliantly frivolous way she played it. Yog Japee, director of the production, was equally effective, slipping seamlessly into character and drawing the audience down paths that were disturbingly easy to identify with. Krishna, as a religious fanatic was also haunting, telling his story of being a hunter who turns into the hunted with eyes that spoke as fluently as his body and voice.
The script was clearly the star here, so the sets were simple and the story was helped along with minimum frills, a fog of incense, some dramatic shifting of light and a clever use of live instrumental music and vocals to add atmosphere. However, the production did border on self-indulgent and preachy, with sections that were just about as subtle as a sledge hammer. Some cuts would have helped make “Reality” tauter, so it packed more punch.
Theatre Y states that ‘good theatre does theatre good’ and they’re quite right. “Reality” proves that live entertainment can reach out to people, leaving a far stronger impact than a movie. Even if it’s not all slapstick and goofy comedy.
SHONALI MUTHALALY
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