In May this year, Time magazine published a story about several Japanese people who orchestrated their own disappearance and were known as ‘johatsu’ or ‘evaporated people’. The writer, Joseph Hincks wrote about how when low on cash, he took up an unusual job in Shibuya, Tokyo’s entertainment district. Every morning, Hincks assumed a fake name and pretended to be an English butler for the men and women who visited a mock castle interior in a high-rise. The feature also made a reference to the book titled The Vanished, which was published last year. Penned by a French journalist Lena Mauger, it featured pictures by photographer Stephane Remael and highlighted how every year, nearly 1,00,000 Japanese vanish without a trace. Often driven by shame and hopelessness, they leave behind lost jobs, disappointed families, and mounting debts. Mauger and Remael uncovered the human faces behind the phenomenon through reportage, photographs, and interviews with those who left, those who stayed behind, and those who helped them orchestrate the disappearances.
Starting over
When Puja Sarup and Rachel D’Souza, young theatre actor-directors and co-founders of Mumbai-based theatre company Patchwork Ensemble, read the article by Hincks, they felt the stories of ‘the evaporated people’ had all the makings of a play. They were further intrigued when they picked up The Vanished and learnt about the agents who actually help such people to disappear. Says Sarup, “Due to recession and socio-economic factors, people have started disappearing in Japan. Some of them like CEOs and architects who held positions of prominence left their families behind and just vanished. They settled down in the interior parts of Japan, took up menial jobs like a janitor, cashier or a helper at a supermarket and restarted their lives anonymously.” The result is their new production Fly By Night, featuring Neil Bhoopalam, Tushar Pandey, Sheena Khalid, Shivani Tanksale, Radhika Chopra and Sarup. The play is set in an urban landscape that’s familiar yet cruel and revolves around a few residents of the hyper city who struggle to cope.
Relocating lives
D’Souza and Sarup weren’t just keen to explore the lives of the vanishing locals but also of the agents who helped them disappear. This sociological concept of cultural dislocation can be attributed to the significance of honour in the Japanese society. If a man is caught cheating on his wife or is sacked from his job, he takes it as a personal defeat and decides to disappear. “It’s a tragic and dark situation. When we read The Vanished , we were fascinated by the lives of these agents. By day, they have regular jobs and work as movers and packers but at night, it becomes a shady operation where they help men and women to move with a few belongings and some cash,” says D’Souza. Fly By Night , however, is not set in Japan but in contemporary Indian society. Like Sarup’s earlier plays such as Ila, Gentleman’s Club aka Tape and The Mule’s Foal , this production toouses humour as a tool to highlight the morbidity of the situation.“We love to explore the idea or story through humour. When we try to make the story quirky or the actions exaggerated, that’s when we can actually focus on what is so pathetic about the reality,” adds D’Souza.
Improv rules
Rather than being bound by a script, Sarup and D’Souza allow their actors to develop the story through improvisations. “We try to keep the brief to a minimum while interacting with the cast. We propose a scenario or situation to them and then we improvise. We always create the script while they are working on the floor,” shares D’Souza.
Just as their earlier works, this play also lays emphasis on movement and music. “We are excited with storytelling that uses music, body movements and imagination on the part of the audience. We aren’t fond of a linear format. We like to explore ways of telling stories and music plays a crucial role in this process. In Fly By Night , for instance, we have used music which is reminiscent of the 50s and 60s jazz era with a noir vibe and creates an ambience that is khufiya ,” signs off Sarup.
Fly By Night premieres at Prithvi Theatre today at 9 p.m and on August 2 at 7 p.m and 9.30 p.m. at the same venue
