Love in the Cholera of Time... the name itself is quite intriguing to create that curiosity among people. Set across different time periods this play is a love story that will remind you of Shakespearean whimsies of love that would question Einsteinian laws of spacetime. The show is set to premiere on June 17, at Jagriti theatre.
Written by award winning thespian Prashanth Nair, it revolves around two protagonists, from two differenteras, falling in love. "The female protagonist lives in 1930s, preindependent India and the male protagonist lives in the 2030s. So, for them running into each other is actually impossible in linear time. But there is a fault in time fabric and they somehow manage to meet and fall in love," says Nair, adding that he tried to show that time does not move in a straight line. The story does not end here, this situation puts four time gods who control the time in trouble.
Trying to showcase the sci- fi elements on stage. Nair found out, has its own restrictions. "Stage is a physical space, I'm seeing it happen in real time. So it's not as simple as employing special effects or any kind of wizardry there. So we used a combination of the sound and time to show different time zones. For example, in the past we used the colour theme of the yellow and brown tones. The futuristic space is the more neon, green, blue, colder end of the spectrum. Between these two spaces where these two individuals continue to meet is when these two colour spectrums blend, which is if I were to mix, yellow and blue, sort of in the green," says Nair, adding that they have used soundscape very carefully. "We have tapped into some sound elements which will reminds you a particular time," he adds.
Nair emphasises that the story has gone through the 17 drafts as of now. "I'd written it during the lockdown and it came from my point of view of just the experience of time suddenly feeling both like it's rushing by and coming to a standstill. Like most of our experiences with the pandemic," says Nair. While the whole story is based on time, the title of the play still leaves many puzzled. "Love in the time of Cholera is a legendary spectacular book that spans the life of two protagonists in the 1800s during the outbreak of cholera. This is a wordplay on that title, switching words to read Love in the Cholera of Time as if to say time is like a disease that's restricting us all, explains Nair.
Love in the Cholera of Time to premiere on June 17, at Jagriti theatre.