As The Museum Theatre filled with the chant of ‘Nam Kum Bha’, storytellers from Bengaluru-based theatre company Tahatto began their rendition of Remember Remember .
The first thing one noticed were the colourful props strewn across the sides of the stage: play blocks that doubled up as chairs, a banjo, djembes, a xylophone, funky accessories, and objects that would be present in a playroom.
A set of five short plays, Remember Remember is a re-imagination of urban fairytales. The cast did a wonderful job of getting the audience involved right from the beginning; their first piece was called ‘Watching an Audience Watch a Play’. A staring match between the audience and the cast led to a number of comic observations by the cast, ending with a member of the audience sharing a story with everyone else.
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After that, one fairytale after another unfolded on stage. The next in line was‘ZenTen’, a story of romance hindered by the use of an app that can take the user back 10 seconds in time. ‘The Pied Piper Remembers’, a new take on the old lore, in which dragons replaced the mice, reminded the audience of how they could be the forgotten dragons — this doubled up as a commentary on societal issues in today’s world. The fourth of these plays was ‘Everybody Needs an Imaginary Friend’, which shows what happens when a woman’s imaginary childhood friends reappear in a comical, yet hard-hitting manner.
The last of the short plays was ‘The Woman Who Lost her Stories’. It was a reminder of how we perhaps dwell in the past too much and don’t realise we’re making our own stories this very moment. The woman leaves the audience with the thought, “Stories are not found or lost. They are just waiting to be shared.”
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As the play progressed, one could see brilliant use of physicality, be it in the form of dance or even to set a scene. The actors did it with ease. They also made spectacular use of varied instruments and their voices to create the worlds in which each story unfolds. These effects would not have been as impactful if not for the lighting, which was spot on.
The close-knit ensemble’s timing was impeccable — be it body movements, where each song kicks in, or just entries and exits.
‘ Remember Remember is simply a childlike inquiry into what makes a story magical — the teller or the listener?’ stated their brochure, and this was exactly what the audience was left with when they walked out.