This play being staged in Hyderabad will make you question things about life, albeit in a comic way

Ever felt like just sitting and doing nothing for days and days together, but felt guilty for doing so? Well, this play, A Whole Lot of Nothing, celebrates doing exactly that, absolutely nothing. This conversational play by Safarnaama Productions poses some very interesting questions, and gives it a comic element with physical theatre. Azhar Khan, the director and writer of the play, says, “This play has dialogues, but it also uses a lot of movement as aspects of physical theatre, which give it a comic element.”

Cael and Bain, the two protagonists, sit under a mango tree waiting for a mango to ripen, and in the meantime, they do a “whole lot of nothing”. The mango tree is dried up, but they still wait for the mango to ripe. Cael is optimistic about it, while Bain is very realistic, almost pessimistic. “The mango is symbolic of hope,” Azhar says.

Agreeing with him, Kshitij Kapoor, who plays Cael, says that waiting for the mango to ripen is symbolic of humans waiting for a canon event to happen in their life. “They keep waiting, but when/if it happens, they don’t know what to do about it, and what to do after it happens.”

A Whole Lot of Nothing touches upon the abstract concept of time. The characters have lived multiple lives since the beginning of humanity, and remember all their lives. “The play has mentions of Moses, World War I, and World War II, indicating that the characters have lived through it all. By this, they try to explain the cyclic and everlasting nature of time,” Azhar explains.

Time is a very abstract concept which is materialised (i.e put numbers, dates and days to) by humans. But what if there are no days, dates and months? What if the entire thing is just a concept? “Humans have added jargon to understand the abstract nature of time. There is an entire vacuum, and we have given terms to understand it. At the end of the day, we are all just trying to make sense of this abstract concept, moving from point A (birth) to Point B (death).” Kshitij elaborates.

Apart from making you think about some abstract concepts, this play will let you not take life too seriously.

Tickets at INR 250. October 26. 7:30 pm.

At Rangbhoomi Spaces and Events, Serilingampalle.