Masquerade Productions is set to revive Gowri Ramnarayan’s popular play Water Lilies

Three situations, three destinations, three men and three women — all converging into three plays. And what do they all have in common besides being part of the same production? Lilies. And how sometimes it’s easier for us to talk and open up to strangers about the deepest personal fears and beliefs than to someone we know. Written by Gowri Ramnarayan in the 2000s, this production is directed by Krishna Kumar, who stages this script thanks to the timeless theme. “It’s got a lot of banter, a feel-good angle of what could lean towards a romance, but doesn’t. It talks about something deeply disturbing, geopolitical things which are still relevant,” the director begins.

Named Water Lilies, the theatre production boasts three approximately 30-minute plays each

Collectively named Water Lilies, the theatre production boasts three approximately 30-minute plays each featuring a man and a woman of varying nationalities meeting in common public spaces. “All the short plays — Fawn Lilies, Water Lilies and Black Lilies — are not necessarily interconnected through characters or plot, but they are interconnected by themes and ideas woven into each other,” he reveals.

In each play, the audience will get to witness three different sets of a man and a woman whose narratives combine both the personal and the political discussions in nuanced arcs. “The plays feature a man and a woman, total strangers who randomly run into each other at a public place,” he shares.

Fawn Lilies takes place in a public park in Columbus, Ohio, where the leads, a lady from India and a man from the US, both interested in bird watching, miraculously connect. “And suddenly, as they’re talking about nature, they get personal and move on to geopolitical ramifications,” the theatre artiste elucidates.

Similarly, Water Lilies (the second short play) takes place at an art gallery in Houston featuring a lady of Indian descent and Sri Lankan roots. She is visiting the US for a family wedding. “The lead of the second play runs into a Lebanese guy. They’re both art enthusiasts and as they express their shared love for the paintings of Claude Monet and the French Impressionists, they reveal how one moves to Oslo while also touching upon all the events that are happening in Sri Lanka and the Middle East,” he explains.

The third play is known as Black Lilies, which is staged two days after the World Trade Centre was taken down by the flight. And it features an Indian lady from Tamil Nadu, who is coming back home after attending a conference and is now stuck at the airport due to a complete blackout. “There she runs into a Hungarian writer, a novelist, who is taking the same connecting flight to go back to Germany. So they sit together in the blackout and talk,” he concludes.

₹400. July 5 & 6, 7 pm. At Medai – The Stage Bengaluru, Koramangala.

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