Blindspot, by Bengaluru production house MISF!T, will take you on a thrilling ride through memory loss, and emotional unravelling
Blindspot, the latest play by production house MISF!T, is a psychological stage thriller that delves into the fragile nature of memory and identity. In a recent conversation with the director, Venkatesan Vaidhyanathan, we explored how the play uses overlapping timelines and conflicting truths to challenge audiences to question what’s real and what’s not!
Identity, truth and reality: Blindspot's compelling journey
What inspired the story of Blindspot? Was there a specific moment that triggered its creation, especially since the play explores memory, reconstruction and blurred reality
Blindspot was inspired by the fundamental question of how we define our identity through memory. The play centres on Anika Sharma, a memory therapist who begins losing her memories. This irony drives the story — how does someone whose work revolves around memory cope when they begin to fail? The play explores perception versus reality and whether our memories reflect the full truth or merely fragments of it.
What kind of experience do you think the audience will have while watching it?
Blindspot takes the audience on a compelling journey that starts light but quickly turns into a thriller. The play uniquely blends multiple time zones and perspectives within single scenes and a narrative complexity similar to the Rashomon Effect. This approach immerses the audience in the protagonist’s fractured reality and multiple truths. Different characters share conflicting versions of events, challenging the idea of a single truth, keeping the audience guessing.
What was the biggest challenge while bringing Blindspot to life, in terms of performance, staging, or structure?
The biggest challenge was crafting a complex, layered play with limited rehearsal time. Unlike film, theatre doesn’t allow for retakes — we had to make every scene clear and compelling. Our late mentor, Ratan Thakore Grant, set a high standard for storytelling and we aim to uphold it. Balancing mystery with clarity, grounding the science without slipping into sci-fi and handling lighting, set design and venue logistics were all crucial.
The characters in Blindspot seem emotionally and mentally complex. How did you work with the actors to help them portray such layered roles?
All our actors share a common training and workshop under MISF!T’s, which creates a shared vocabulary. They are all either students of Ratan Thakur Grant or Vishal Nayer, our creative consultant. This helps us focus on deep character work from day one. The script isn’t fixed. Since the play explores psychological themes, the actors also did their personal research, talking to medical professionals and understanding emotional and cognitive states of the human mind. It’s a blend of shared training, live discovery and character immersion.
INR 300 onwards. On May 31, 7.30 pm onwards . June 1, 3.30 pm & 7.30 pm onwards. At Medai — The Stage, Koramangala.
Written by Sreemoyee Das