On Vacation

I went to see this award wining play, originally written in Marathi (a language spoken in West India) then later translated to English. On Vacation. That was the name of the play.

Directed by Vinay Verma, a renowned TV artist and popular on the theater circuit. The play has a lot to tell, it has enough Masala to keep you go on. But.

The female protagonist, played by Shunila Kapoor, was more obsessed with her costume and diction and how she looked on stage more than getting into the skin of the character. Well that upsets me to see how, artists feel, that by just costume alone, the characters would just emerge. Characters are beyond costumes, they are people.

The gay couple more than anything else, make sure that all the cliché’s whatsoever the society has about the gays are re-enforced. Can someone break the stereotype and show them as real people. Also, all their expression of love for each other was matter of laughter and fun for a lots of members in the audience. That somewhere reflects the sensitivity and maturity of the audience too…

There was this artist who plays the role of a journalist, one as a typical local, w/o any polished skills and completely rustic, and later as the refined person with impeccable taste. These were moments of comic of relief, had the audience in splits and was received with huge rounds of applause. Well, what do these theater groups feel is the level of maturity and taste of the audience? I mean they treat us like cattle. And people who are new to theater lap up such performances. I mean is there someone who understands the real psyche of the audience? Are all at a level where they cannot see a good performance beyond explicit humor? Can there be theater beyond just pure entertainment?

I feel the attempts to appeal to masses for commercial needs can hamper real expression and when combined pseudo artists, theater can loose its sting.