Embracing a wider stage

The Short + Sweet festival brought together 10-minute plays from across the world and an audience of all ages

July 29, 2014 05:39 pm | Updated 05:39 pm IST - chennai:

 Pooja Devariya and Krishna Ganapathy performing in Carpouram

Pooja Devariya and Krishna Ganapathy performing in Carpouram

For a generation with a short-attention span, Short and Sweet is the answer. The auditorium at Alliance Française throbs with raw energy jostling with the vivacity of a crowd of all ages. This is the beginning of an unexpected carousel ride. Each play lasting 10 minutes feels like a mini earthquake. The crowd next to me is a happy bunch of cheerleaders that whistles, thumps and caterwauls before the start of each play and cheers enthusiastically at the end.

At the Gala Finals night the plays selected were nine by jury and four by audience poll. Six were themed on death, afterlife and resurrection — though not intentional, this echoes the distress of our times. In the Heavenly Baddie , a docile software engineer expecting entry to heaven is tricked by the Devil pretending to be a corrupt politician in line. In Waiting for Him , the dead find love after death. The lyrical Death of Drona by Theatre Nisha exponents Drona’s anguish at the death of Ashvathamma. Kannagi the statue comes to life and speaks her woes. The plays offer hope away from hope on extended trays: from the advocacy of non-belief in any kind of system, the freedom from any kind of justification or the need to wait in line. The cynicism about the existence of God and a factual approach to our perceptions of good and bad pepper the performances strung out in an even mix of Tamil and English. In Checkout , an Australian entry, Corrine, a saleswoman rants about her robotic job. Scripted and directed by Rajiv Rajaram, The Destiny of a Typist was a clear winner with perfect timing, crisp deliveries and extraordinary caricaturing. The play is a humorous take on the minutes before Tryst with Destiny — how two typists may have bumbled their way through the speech. Looking for new leases on life in more than one way, the festival too wears elastic strings, expanding to pull in new audiences, fresh faces and talent-scouters from cinema.

Short and Sweet is presented by Prakriti Foundation and The Blu Lotus Foundation, in association with the Alliance Française of Madras and the Australian Consulate-General Chennai with support from Chennai Live. From 112 scripts all over India and another 70 plus scripts from Sydney, 30 made it to the festival. Selecting directors for the scripts and actors happens at the next level. Both theatre companies and individuals can apply. The festival also encourages newcomers with its Wild Card entry. For instance, the software engineer in the Heavenly Baddie , in real life, is an accounting professional interested in performance. Festival director Meera Krishnan says the 175-capacity Édouard Michelin Auditorium is great for audience participation. “We ran house full on all the days and I had to turn 150 people away! A key achievement of this festival is that we get a totally new audience. The festival structure gives a chance to new performers to interact and compete with well-established theatre persons. It is a platform for those who have never done theatre before but would like to. Then there’s this connection between Tamil and English theatre.”

Prakriti Foundation, sticklers for upstanding theatre behaviour, kept the doors shut, making sure we stayed till the end and I am glad they did. Theatre has great transformative power in the presence of people. I am conscious of laughing, of feeling confused, of being curious - and of others. I am aware of embracing widely.

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