So.. The most interesting thing that has happened in the past two weeks is that we started subscribing to the Hindu.. And so it happened that last weekend's supplementary section had this mention of Qadar Ali Baig theater festival. Theater festival.. Well.. Why not? Not that we are solving the global warming problems over the weekend. Loads of time in our hands. And nothing much to occupy us. So, thats what saw us on a Sunday morning visiting Music World to get the tickets for the only English play over the weekend - Unspoken Dialogues. With diminishing enthusiasm we faced the approaching date. For how good could it be?This being my first theater experience discounting the ones in college. (Rolling eyes). :) So on the D-day we reached the venue not-on-time. Well.. Whats new? But the theater Gods were on our side. For the play had not yet commenced.So, we sat there and waited listening to pre-show announcements.And then the show started. An hour and half of openness. Of viewing performances which were so real that they looked artificial for they were on a stage. Of feelings of emotions which were poetry. With a few weeks between then and now, I hardly remember all of it. But i'll pen down here all those i remember.
The Death Of A Salesman.. A beautiful portrayal of changing times is too fast for people to keep pace with.. With age we wage a losing battle. Alyque Padamsee took to stage and brought to life the character of an old salesman being shown the door by his employer. The very same employer who was but a kid when the salesman first joined the firm..
Be Fair.. A comic portrayal of the recism that Indians depict towards all people foreign.. The story unfolds with four people travelling in the first class of a local train in India. Set across the backdrop of a commercial which says - "Be fair".. The foreigner in the group is targetted by the all-too-noisy-modern-day-self-made "buginess-voman" and the spineless-roadside-romeo. The duo rounds up on him and starts berating him for all things foreign about him.. And finally the pretty-oh-so-conscious-that-she-is-pretty girl decides to stand up for the innocent foreigner and BE FAIR..
Perfect World.. A beautiful monologue of a lady who is smitten by love. Love which is unrequited. She still carves her own perfect world with her lover. A lover whom she kills. Shoots at with a gun. And thus is united with. In her own perfect world.
Dragon Fly.. The story of a young girl who was besotted with the rainbow coloured wongs of dragon flies. So much so that she spent many a lazy afternoon plucking off these very wings of these flies.. Watching them writhe in pain. And then molested by her cousin when she was just a child, she BECOMES the dragon fly.. With her chimmering wings torn apart. As her cousin stood by and watched her pain with relish..
The Soldier.. The story of a young combatant who has been assigned to fight at the border. This monologue documents his unspoken feelngs.. As he tells his Commanding Officer.. "I'm unafraid of death. As i have been trained to die. But throughout my training as I shot at cardboard figures with enthusiasm, it never once struck me that the enemy i will one day shoot at will be a man too. That he too would have a wife waiting for him at home.. He too would have a mother whose prayers are full of entreaties to god for her beloved son. And now as i go to the border.. I do not know.. If this is right or wrong.. But it is my duty and performing it is the sole purpose of my being here.. A part of the armed forces. I have my orders Sir.. So fight i will. Jai hind."
(Forgotten Name) :) - A satirical take on a couple with the husband insecure about his masculine prowess and the wife reluctant to put him at ease..
At the end of the performance was an open session where members of the audience shared their experiences.. About racism, about the fears of soldiers in the armed forces, about child molestation and a hundred other topics.. For each of us who were in this audience there was a particular piece in the play which was personal. Close to heart. For all of us harbor within ourselves a thousand feelings.. Unspoken. Except in our thoughts. Unheard. Except in the ears of our mind. And when we find the same expressed in some other's thoughts.. We connect. And thus it was that at the end of my first experience of theater, i was left speechless. . And the audience responded with spoken approval of the tremendous thought that would hav egone behind each of the stories. Each of which could be a blog onto itself.. :) And thats why I am happy i have finally posted this blog. For though i have not done justice to any of the stories, at least now i have some more tangible memories of the experience. Other than my smoky memories..
