Odyssey begins with silhouettes and shadows, and a lone light spraying into the room from a corner. Then, there is sudden cacophony as each person tries to draw himself towards that light, eager to understand its beckoning call.
An amalgamation of music and movement, the play is an attempt to comprehend the idea of space and explore the many nuances of it. According to Siddhanth Sundar, director of Odyssey which was staged at Spaces, Besant Nagar, “As time goes by the spaces inside us are getting smaller and the spaces around us is expanding. We have a lot of rights and wrongs in this society now. A lot of insecurities stem out of this. So all I wanted to do was explore this space around us,” he says.
And explore spaces it does. Taking a leaf out of Darwin’s Survival of the Fittest theory, the play first examines that aspect of man’s evolution by showcasing the competition for food and space. The scene then shifts to showing how humans evolved, developed limbs and were able to hunt for themselves. This sharply transcends into a scene depicting a cell phone falling from the sky — developed limbs and evolved hands, suddenly assume a new meaning. A rose falls from the sky representing love sans boundaries, where despite being hurt by its thorns man is taken by the beauty of the flower and gifts it in an attempt to express his emotions. Religion and society intervene, admonish and criticise – in the process, fostering hatred.
Events from around the world have also been portrayed here – like the countless atrocities against women, a mother’s forgiving heart towards her son’s murderer and the overpowering gaze of the media. All these topics explore the concept of space in an intense, yet subjective light.
A devised play, Odyssey was conceptualised mainly through a series of workshops that included those in street theatre, Kalaripayattu, belly dancing, body balance, contact improvisation, yoga and touch therapy. Gibberish was the language that was used in the play, along with minimal costumes and a lot of dramatic lighting.
The nine actors, who were part of the production, including both first timers and veterans, brought a compelling intensity to the play, making it eminently watchable.
Sujata Guha’s performance is raw, strong and painful while Fahmaan Khan is realistic, unflinching and resolute. Priyanka Dasgupta, Noella Ferrao, Dimpy Fadhya, Prateek Prajosh, Arun Nair and Sameer Kevin Roy all lend a power-packed performance while the voices of vocalists Shilpa Mudbi and Siddhanth Sundar made for a haunting addition to this production.