Enacted by a bunch of school and college students, the play made good use of teenage angst. It was almost as if the actors were liberated from all inhibitions and were asked to let go onstage. It quivered with raw, unbridled energy and made lavish use of technology and innovative stagecraft, particularly back projection and lights.
“I was bowled over by the concept. It had no obvious plot, it was actually a collection of scenes, but it made more sense than many other plays I had seen in the city before. It was an hour-long play but it seemed much longer and I mean it in a good way,” says Anubrata Basu, who was a 16-year-old school student when the play was staged. Though the play ended up questioning the conventions of the English theatre scene in the city, it was, claim its makers, something waiting to happen.

It was with their third production, Video, staged about a year ago, that the group saw the crystallisation of their vision. By then, other members had joined and they were more exposed to world theatre through workshops in Mumbai. Using video projections, innovative lighting and an unconventional narrative structure, this original play written by Kanti told the story of a group of youngsters in the city but soon lurched into vaguely sinister meditation on the new technologies that encircle and ensnare us. Video also used extensive martial arts-inspired dance sequences, choreographed by the team members. “When we made Video, we were sure that we wanted to work with music, dance, theatre, film, design exhibition and photography. We wanted to address topical issues but do so experimentally,” says Kanti.

... contd.