What happens when the world of comics spills into music, theatre and dance? The fourth edition of La Nuit Blanche, titled La Nuit de la Bande Dessinée, will turn the Alliance Française de Madras campus into a celebration of stories, characters and visual storytelling this Saturday. Running from 2 pm to 3 am, the free, open-to-all event brings together exhibitions, workshops, games and performances across the campus.
Among the evening’s highlights are short comedies by Theatre Arlequin, a piano concert by Adam Greig, a performance by Auroville-based musician Nadaka, and a comic take on Bharatanatyam by dancers Indu Santhosh, Preethi Bali, and Shruti Gopal. We spoke to the artistes about what they are bringing to the festival and what audiences can expect.
The afternoon begins with Theatre Arlequin’s Matinee Show Maamé, a series of short comedies designed to get audiences laughing. “In keeping with the spirit of La Nuit Blanche we shall bring plays that will surely invoke giggles if not guffaws,” says R Amarendran of Theatre Arlequin, describing the humour as “offbeat and 16+”. The group is also bringing a few new plays, which means even the performers are curious to see how audiences respond. “Performing before a live audience is the ultimate thrill for an actor because he is instantly lauded or booed at based on his performance. There is no going back once the lights are on,” he laughs.
The shorter format also gives the performers more room to experiment. “Shorter plays give us more scope to experiment with genres,” he says, pointing to the group’s previous evenings that have brought together comedy and serious plays.
What happens when a silent comic frame gets a soundtrack? That is the question pianist Adam Greig explores with Hearing the Frame, a performance that pairs piano miniatures with French etchings and caricatures. The programme features works by Erik Satie and Francis Poulenc, whose compositions themselves have a strong relationship with visual art and caricature. What interests him about comics is their stillness. “The images are by default static. This opens up possibilities for teasing out new types of interaction,” he enthuses.
“Each piece is like a single frame of a comic, exploring the ability of sound to communicate diverse and rapid emotions and narrate. Some of these have been paired with images by the composer, and some I’ve paired myself. I’m hoping to introduce the audience to a new sound world of Paris in the early 1900s,” Adam says.
“I wanted to celebrate the strength of French caricature of the 19th century, as a sort of prototype format for character development in comics,” he explains. For Adam, the pairings are less about telling audiences exactly what to see or hear and more about creating space for their own interpretations. “I hope the audience internalise the multiple sources to create that inner imaginary artistic portrayal; the scenes and characters coming alive for them in their own musings while they listen and watch,” he smiles.
Nadaka’s Geet-Taar & Taal brings perhaps the most unusual instrument of the evening to the stage. The Auroville-based musician will perform on the geet-taar, a 24-string acoustic instrument he developed over decades of experimentation. It combines elements of the guitar, veena, swaramandal and tanpura, with movable frets that allow him to explore the microtonal nuances of Indian music. The name itself is a play on geet, meaning song, and taar, meaning string.
At La Nuit Blanche, he will perform his own compositions with Chennai musician Divakar Subramaniam on percussion. “It’s called Geet-Taar and Taal because it’ll mostly be focused on my instrument; the geet-taar and taal is the rhythm that my friend will bring with the percussion,” he says. “There will be a jazzy undertone that it’s influenced by Indian music,” Nadaka tells us.
Humour gets a Bharatanatyam makeover with Tha Thai Ha Ha, performed by Indu Santhosh, Preethi Bali, and Shruti Gopal. The work explores the place of laughter within a classical form often associated with devotion, drama and storytelling, drawing on satire, rhythm and movement.
“Humour has always been an integral part of our art forms, and Bharatanatyam is no exception,” says Indu, pointing to the form’s vast vocabulary and its ability to accommodate everything from love and longing to anger, wonder and humour. “The audience can come fully unprepared to laugh,” she adds. For the dancers, comedy also offers a way to loosen the distance sometimes perceived between classical arts and contemporary audiences.
Entry free. On October 10, 2 pm-3 am. At Alliance Française de Madras, Nungambakkam.
Email: anoushkakundu@newindianexpress.com
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