The Mega Award Festival which is on in Delhi at Kamani and LTG has thrown up some good theatre like Gasha which was prepared in a month of workshops and interviews and visits to Kashmir. It is a collaborative examination of the Kashmir story from the perspective of a Kashmiri pundit. The story is told through two actors, one Kashmiri pundit called Gasha played by Adhir Bhatt and the other played by Sandeep Shikar as a Muslim boy, Nassir. The play proceeds through their antics and dilemmas and in fragments of imagination to what happened one night and what happened before that.
The play is directed by Abhishek Majumdar who uses arena-style enactment on Kamini stage. By using a few props like suitcases, a tiered blackboard and some rope, he creates spaces and environments.
The two boys are fine actors who play all the roles, like Adhir plays his grandmother very brilliantly to the effect of explaining militancy and religious stand of some Kashmiris. The actors use minimal props like dupatta, shawl or a change of jacket to portray the various roles, taking the play to great histrionic heights. The play is scripted by Irawati Karnik and language is Kashmiri, Urdu and Hindi.
Another interesting play was After the Silence directed by Martin John C and presented by the Sadhana Centre for Creative Practice. Martin John C works on physical theatre training, moving between Kerala and Chile where he went in 2002. His main character is Velaria Oliguyn a very talented actor from Chile and so is the music director Claudio Clavida from Chile. The three of them playing music offstage go on stage and methodically construct two tables and two stools. Claudio returns to his music leaving Velaria lying dead in a taped form of her body. The play proceeds like a dream with snatches of reality. In the first dream Martin John a medical student sets Velaria up and describes her physiognamy with details of the function of each organ and then picks her up and puts her on his knees with a view to dissection.
The second dream is more mundane. We see Velaria and Martin John when he is typing and she is stamping the papers in a marked rhythm. The highlight of the whole production is the control over the body. they can do anything with the physical being like reverberating one limb while the rest of the body is static; moving in angles of indefinable strangeness. The aura of the mystery is omnipotent and leaves one rather breathless.
The other play was Old Man on the Sea based on Ernest Hemmingway’s eponymous novel. The fight for survival played by P.T. Manoj is heartfelt. After many days of disappointment the lonely fight with the huge fish through three days is very well depicted. The boat moving around in the seascape is very realistic.
The opening play, Fevicol, speaks about industrialisation in village. A man enters a household as an unwelcome guest. He endeavours to set up an industry against their wishes. He is willing to go to any extent by lying and deceiving and even begging. He finally takes over their land. The play is marked by folk elements where four dancers dance to the Jharkand song Doonga tor hilela dolela.
The Tamil play Miruga Vidushagam was a visual treat. Donning animal masks and motifs and carrying totem poles the Miruga Vidushagam (animal jesters) journey into war torn lands, highlighting the plight of refugees affected by war calamities and drawing attention to the problem faced by migratory population due to industrialisation. The play is the physical manifestation of a combination of mythology, history and ritual.