A Polished Sunday

Short plays are often crisp, to the point and hold on to the attention of the audience. Especially for people who are performing theatre arts for the first time on the stage, a short play can help them immensely in building up confidence and tackling stage fear. ‘Pie-five’, a collection of five short plays put up at Phoenix Arena, Madhapur by Dramanon (Dramatist Anonymous) on this Sunday was all about it.

On the occasion of their 10th anniversary, Dramanon conducted a 60 hours production oriented workshop, where people involving theatre enthusiasts to someone who just wants to experience stage were trained and provided with an opportunity to experience live audience while they perform. When it comes to a collection of plays, an order in which they are presented can alter the attention of the audience.

Dramanon, in not just their workshop productions but also during their regular productions with a collection of short plays, have made sure of an order that takes their audience on a ride of emotions. ‘The Defenceless Creature’, first of the ‘Pie-five’, was a humorous play involving an argument between a banker and a housewife that leads to getting her job done without necessarily making sense.

The play was written by Neil Simon and was directed by Rahul Ghosh. Following it was ‘Favors’, a conversation between two women, where one makes an offer to another that she can’t refuse. This play’s writing in particular defined the characters and their approach towards life. It was written by Julianne Homokay and was directed by Saurabh Sen Sharma.

This particular play was bold and intense as it dealt with issues considered taboo in the society. We could feel a shift from humour to a sense of calm and that’s when we know the play is doing its job. Third in the order was a play called ‘The Catch’ talking about a mother in search of a paedophile who’s the reason for her son committing suicide.

This particular play from a slight humorous angle moves to a friendly conversation between her and a man she thinks to be mistaken by the one she was looking for. This particular play was written and directed by RK Shenoy keeps you in a slight dilemma throughout for which you will want to sit until the end. Although the play hits you hard towards the end, it is allowed to do so as what comes next is a 10 minutes break. Following the break was ‘The Governess’ written by Neil Simon and directed by Aditi Roy Sinha.

This play was all about a governess motivating her employer to seek what she deserves but in a world which hardly pays you pennies, accepting what comes is as humble as it can get. The final play of all was ‘Surgery’ coming back to square one; this play is a hardcore comedy adapted in Hindi and directed by Kanishka Das Gupta whereas the original writing is by Neil Simon.

It’s about a patient who ends up in a clinic where a mechanic is eager enough to pursue dentistry. His struggle to operate and succeed is what makes it really funny. The whole cast for the night’s performance is here in the order of the plays: Ramesh Bojja, Krishna Varma and Prasanjeeth Poddar (The Defenceless Creature), Preethi Vedadri and Tanaya Pashankar (Favors), Amit Sachdev and Priyanka Priyadarshini (The Catch), Akarshika Prasad and Ridheiy Verma (The Governess) and Sahas Ved and Satiz June (Surgery).

All the plays consisted of not more than three characters in each with minimal props. From sound to lights, everything was in a perfect sync with what was happening on the stage. Even the shift from one play to another was quick not leaving the audience clueless. Performances were slightly weak and couldn’t bring many reactions from the audience though actors and the content managed to keep it interesting enough for the audience to stick to their seats.

Considering the fact that most of the actors on stage were performing for the first time, we could hardly notice a single point of mumble whereas the rest went smooth and confident. It wouldn’t have been the best show till date put up by Dramanon considering the new actors and minimal ticket charges but it definitely was a show one would like to watch on a Sunday evening with friends or family for its content and clean performances. This was also the first workshop production this year by Dramanon after ‘Shut The Speak Up’ in September last year.

By Sasidhar Kocharlakota