Absurd, dark humour gives food for thought

The absurd, dark humour of 'A Little Calm Before the Storm' kept the audience entertained and gave them food for thought on the third day of the Deccan Herald Theatre Festival.

The play, based on German playwright Theresia Walser's work, was directed by Vandana Prabhu and staged at Ranga Shankara in JP Nagar.

This year the festival is curated by Sandbox Collective, a creative services organisation.
The story is set in a green room as three actors wait to go on stage, presumably for a live discussion. Two of them have played the role of Hitler and the third of Goebbels, and they are to have a discussion about playing the role of the infamous dictator.

What follows is a restless back and forth between the three characters, played by Kanchan Bhattacharya, Roy Sinai, and Kinjal Majumdar, about what it means to be a theatre actor.
If an actor has to bring out the evil in himself to play the role of Hitler and he does a good job, what does it say about his character?

They also give the audience something to chew on. Should we continue to depend on old texts for our theatre? Or should we keep with the times, allow for experimentation, and adopt new ways of storytelling?

In spite of the limitations of being set in one room, the actors managed to keep the audience engaged and entertained.

The audience burst out into laughter at the antics of the three characters and their wandering discussions.

The DH Theatre Festival has more to offer with Prashanth Nair's 'A Little Thing Called Life' on  December 8, 'The Woman in Me' by film director Pawan Kumar on December 9  and the final show, Prakash Belawadi's 'Boiled Beans on Toast' on  December 10.