Pride Month in Bengaluru kicks off with Mahesh Dattani’s play 'Untouchable' debuting in the city

Set in a futuristic pandemic, renowned playwright Mahesh Dattani’s play Untouchable is essentially about two people — so desperate for the touch and smell of another human that they decide to hook up even at the risk of falling sick — only to discover the differences in their caste and class that forbids them to do so.

During the pandemic in 2020, a theatre company in the US reached out to playwrights worldwide, including Mahesh, with a simple yet profound brief – write about what’s rattling your brain while you are isolated. This led to the creation of the short play, Untouchable. While a video performance of the play featuring the likes of Jim Sarbh, Puja Sarup and Roshan Mathew came out soon after, it’s set to have its stage debut production this week in Bengaluru and is being helmed by Samragni Dasgupta.

“Thanks to the marvels of technology, we were not entirely shut off from others in the lockdown. One imagines that people were completely isolated without telecommunication during the Spanish Flu or the Bubonic Plague. Unlike that, in 2020, we could connect with other humans outside our family through Zoom and Facetime. But the human connection was limited to seeing images on screen or hearing voices. The touch and smell were inaccessible in the virtual world for those isolated. Only the real sharing of space could provide the sensory gratification of touch and smell. That is why the characters in my play are desperate to meet despite the dangers,” Mahesh explains.

For director Samragni Dasgupta though, discovering Untouchable was a serendipity. “I was looking for a short play that focuses on the LGBTQIA+ community and came across Untouchable. I reached out to Mahesh and he allowed us to go ahead with our production,” says Samragni, who had previously directed Mahesh’s play Dance Like A Man.

Casting the play was difficult, however. Samragni says, “The play asks for a lot from the actors and challenges them in various ways. The only change I have made to the text is casting a trans-man, Lavanya and a non-binary person, Urvashi, as my actors.”

Urvashi, who had acted in Arundhati Raja’s production of Girish Karnad’s Yayati, tells us, “The last time I played a male character was when I was in school. I was one of the tallest in an all-girls school, so I played all the boys’ characters. Doing it now for the first time as an adult has been like a return home for me.” The actor adds pensively, “I find it more challenging to play women than men, honestly, so, I’m really excited for this. It’s also my first time in a queer play. So a bit of the familiar and a bit of something new has been great so far.”

After portraying roles of women throughout my 20s, actor Lavanya came out as a transgender man in December 2020 and in recent years, has been considered for screen projects featuring trans-men. “Intimacy exercises have been a huge part of this process and I’m thankful for it. There’s also a shyness or reticence that I have developed as part of my character, separate from my own shyness as a person. This has been interesting because I didn’t realise that that was even possible,” the actor tells us about the creative process.

This play between reticence and intimacy has been accentuated by keeping the lighting completely focused on the actors. I have tried to create an effect of sunlight streaming through a window, with lamps lighting the rest of the stage, to give the effect of actually being in an apartment, where the story is set. “I want the audience to feel as if they are looking through a neighbours window into something so intimate that they feel uncomfortable,” Samragni says. Also,” she adds, “the play is written such that silence speaks louder than words. Hence, there is basically no sound design.”

Before we end the conversation, Mahesh drops an Easter egg of what we can look forward to from him. “I have just completed writing a full-length play, Dance Like a Goddess (a spiritual sequel to Dance Like a Man). I will be directing its first production in October in the US,” he says, signing off.

Entry free. June 9, 5.30 pm. At Bangalore International Centre, Indiranagar.

Email: prattusa@newindianexpress.com

X: @MallikPrattusa