PYAAR, S*X AUR CHUMBAN

Written by Chanakya Vyas
Produced by Naatak Express
Directed by Meghna Roy Choudhury
Duration: 15 minutes

About the Play
A comic, absurd take on the diminishing intimacy between couples. Two mosquitoes set out on a mission to bring a couple closer and get them to be intimate. In the course of their efforts, one mosquito dies while confessing its love to the other.
Naatak Express was a theatre initiative and fundraiser that brought together playwrights, directors and performers to create short plays through an intensive, time-bound process. Beyond the performances, the initiative aimed to build a network of artists, encourage new collaborations and raise funds for independent arts organisations. The proceeds from the event supported Changbhala Foundation, which uses theatre to work with women and children and engage with constitutional values.

Director’s Note
The challenge was to direct a 15 minute play in eight hours with four actors I was meeting for the first time. They came with very different levels of experience. One had formal acting training, another had performance experience without formal training, while the other two were completely new to acting.

The different levels of experience meant that we had to think quickly and find a common starting point. The idea was to go back to the basics of Indian theatre, drawing from a theatrical language that most of us have grown up witnessing at the local religious festivals and performances around the corners of our homes. It is a language that is familiar and immediate, but one that relies heavily on rhythm, physicality and, above all, the craft of timing.

We had to build the play together, from understanding the characters and their relationships to finding the physical language of the two worlds: the couple and the mosquitoes. Both needed distinct physical vocabularies while occupying the same theatrical space.

There was very little time to plan everything in advance. Most decisions emerged through trying things out with the actors, seeing what worked and adjusting along the way. It was chaotic, fast paced and a lot of fun. I particularly enjoyed the process of building a performance with people I had just met and discovering how much could take shape through a shared room, a common theatrical vocabulary and a limited amount of time.

Credits
Written by: Chanakya Vyas
Produced by: Naatak Express
Directed by: Meghna Roy Choudhury
Performed by: Sahil Ahuja, Pooja Khanolkar, Venkatesh Sumbe and Dalpat Mali
Lights: Nimish and Sia
Sound: Manas Joglekar