Madras Players’ newest manufacturing, a pointy satire within the type of love letters unabashedly takes on the literary world, armed with humour.
Madras Players’ newest manufacturing, a pointy satire within the type of love letters unabashedly takes on the literary world, armed with humour.
Letters have at all times paved the best way for good tales. But what’s one prone to discover in letter exchanges between two writers, an novice and a veteran? A two-person play finds out.
Madras Players’ newest manufacturing, helmed by Nikhila Kesavan and introduced out in collaboration with Chennai Art Theatre, titled Dear Omana: Notes on methods to be a Literary Sensation is a satire instructed for the stage.
Adapted from author and columnist Krishna Shastri Devulapalli’s epistolary play and elements of his novel How to be a Literary Sensation, the play, says Nikhila, stays true to the previous’s work. Though Nikhila was aware of his columns and novels, it was an unassuming Facebook good friend suggestion that linked the 2 in the course of the lockdown in 2020.
This was additionally how Nkhila was launched to Dear Anita and How to be a Literary Sensation. On studying each, a couple of excerpts from the e book appeared to suit completely within the play, and Nikhila reached out to the creator for a inexperienced flag.
“I rewrote the play to accommodate the excerpts and shared it with him, and he liked what I had done,” says the director. The preliminary plan was to carry out it throughout lockdown. “But when you are doing something funny, you want to hear the audience laughing. Online is so one-sided. So we decided to wait,” she provides.
The play is a pointy satire based mostly on Krishna Shastri Devulapalli’s works
“The dynamics of the play are different from how it was written earlier, but it is still in the form of love letters. It is very interactive between the two characters,” says Nikhila. Omana and Krishna Shastri Devulapalli are the protagonists — “The whole play follows how Krishna seeks tips and mentoring from Omana to survive and navigate the literary world,” Nikhila says.
In the play, Nikhila performs Omana, whereas the creator is performed by V Sarvesh Sridhar.
For Nikhila, taking over a satire of this sort, was a primary. “It was a challenge, probably more so because I decided to play one of the characters. I think once we started, it just flowed. We went with the script.” Though the 2 characters are “technically reading letters”, Nikhila guarantees that the stage wouldn’t be devoid of motion. The secret is to carry out the letters and never merely learn them, says Nikhila.
Lots of the inspiration comes from the script, provides Nikhila. For occasion, one of many essays within the e book talks about how writing is all about arithmetic. “The moment I chose the essay, automatically, the design for it emerged. We immediately thought about enacting how a writer does number-crunching.” Though musical interludes are a part of the narrative, choreography is one thing to look ahead to.
The play unabashedly takes on writers, publishers, editors, translators and others within the literary world, armed with humour. The phrases merely do the job, concludes Nikhila.
Dear Omana: Notes on methods to be a Literary Sensation will probably be carried out on June 18 at 7.15 pm and June 19 at 4.15 pm and seven.15 pm, at Alliance Francaise of Madras. Tickets on BookMyShow.
Source: www.thehindu.com
