A fascinating tale of shoes

The play was written by Abhishek Majumdar and directed by Vivek V Narayan.
The play, which combined various audio-visual media, offered the audience a peek into the workings of family life. It was depicted entirely through the recollections of Rukhsar, the play’s protagonist. The memories she narrated allowed her to touch upon many different and relevant issues like religion, war, relationships, society and even the influence of Indian cinema. However, the most interesting part of this play was how shoes ended up becoming the connecting thread of the entire story.

The protagonist played five separate roles, and impressed the audience with her excellent voice modulation and changes in facial expressions. The background music was composed by Kelvin Thomson. It also helped in creating the intended ambience in the play, especially during intense moments.

“The main challenge was being the observer in the performance and not the doer,” said Anitha Santhanam, after the show. She said she faced many challenges while preparing for this role. “This was not the first time I am performing solo, but the first time that I’m doing five roles. The accent was also a problem since I am a South Indian,” she said.

Both the costume and the stage set-up of the production were overly simplistic but they seemed to strike the right chord with the audience who had gathered to watch the play.

“It was a simple story told very well. I liked the way Anitha played many roles and how the background music and Hindi film videos were incorporated into the story,” said Vidya Gopal, one of the members of the audience.

The play was definitely a good effort and even managed to sustain the audience’s interest for its entire length. However, it did not impress everyone in the audience. “I didn’t think highly of the execution of the play,” said Kaustubhi Shukla, a theatre actor
from New Delhi, who saw the play.

“It was a very sensitive and unique concept, but they could have coordinated the other media better. They should have also explored the space a little more since it was too constricted. Still, they are beginners and it was a good endeavour,” she added.