When the curtain goes up, Satya and Vedehi are living happily in Kanchipuram for a year now. In love and fearing family disapproval, we learn that they had eloped. Vedehi met Satya when she was a passenger in his cab, and fell in love with him. Finding a way to make their love work, they chose to run. Life progresses fine. There is laughter and fun, till Vedehi’s family learns about her pregnancy, and invites the couple home for lunch.
Here’s where things begin to turn dark.
Titled Dark People — Stories from the South, Vedehi and Satya’s story reflects the lives of couples who dared to love against the wish of their families, thereby dishonouring them, as the families choose
to believe.
So, when the lights begin to dim, the gore begins. Vedehi’s father kicks her in the stomach, before killing her. Satya then is beaten to death. The audience is bound to feel discomfort but that’s exactly what the play seeks to achieve. “We want the audience to feel the discomfort; we want them to feel the reality of what is being staged, because though staged, these are stories based on true events,” says Prithesh Bhandary, founder of the Bengaluru-based theatre group Bhandutvas; and writer and director of Dark People — Stories from the South.
While Vedehi’s story is about honour killing, the other story is about a queer couple, who are killed because of their preferences.
Arjun and Harish are in love and minding their own business. A group of people, on finding out about their identities, intervene and start beating Arjun and Harish brutally. Harish manages to escape and runs to the nearest police station for help. But the cops on learning he is homosexual, instead harass and assault Harish. “The story turns very dark from here, but it is what reality is. We did a lot of research on incidents in South India; and surprisingly, contrary to the perception that North India is the hub of crimes related to homosexuals, it is South India which takes the lead,” says Prithesh.
These are stories that start on a lighter note and gradually delve into dark themes towards the last 20 minutes. “Humans have both good and evil inside them. When one chooses evil, they incite the cruel in them, and what this does to our society or even to one’s own families is what we seek to explore. The deep-rooted sense of false pride we possess is disturbing, to say the least. The stories in the South we heard of from people we met shook us to the core and thus, we thought of bringing this production to our audience,” says B Charles from Chennai Art Theatre and curator of the show.
Asked if it’s a risk worth taking considering honour killing and gender identities are taboo topics, Prithesh tells us, “I don’t think the audience is completely open to such subjects, but we are only reflecting real life, which is what theatre is meant to do. We’re not trying to patronise or be preachy, but just throwing light on facts.”
April 23. 4 pm and 7 pm.
At Medai – The Stage.
Tickets available online
and at the venue.
rupam@newindianexpress.com
@rupsjain