No easy answers!

Sheena Khalid sounds a tad hassled when we call her to speak about her new play Shikaar. The director, writer and performer, who runs the theatre company Patchworks Ensemble with Puja Sarup, admits to self-doubts, each time there is a new play opening. “It’s because of the nature of themes we are dealing with. Our style and form is so irreverent, that we have to be so conscious that we do not end up saying what we absolutely don’t want to. But at the same time, we want to be able to push boundaries, be crazy and take it to bizarre, absurd zones. It’s always a struggle,” says the creator of plays such as Ila, that dealt with gender fluidity and The Gentleman’s Club, which was about drag kings. Sheena shares her thoughts on her upcoming show and her theatre company completing five years…

How did Shikaar come about? 

The story and the concept came from author Shubhangi Swarup. Puja and I were interested in collaborating with her. We were just looking at the term ‘chudails’ — which we all have been called in some context or the other — and that’s where the idea came from. The story is about a group of chudails who are living together and they each have their individual lives on the outside as well. One day, a guy comes from an organisation and says there is a mandatory training programme for all the citizens which is going to help them identify and call out chudails and they all have to undergo it. That’s the crux of the show.

What are some of the themes that the play deals with? 

Firstly, we are looking at how mobs are formed and what it means to instigate one against the other. Also, the idea that if you are not with us, you are against us. Then there are a lot of other things we have been looking at, for instance, what are the demands that society puts on women. Because we are creators and artistes, we are responding to the environment that exists. It’s also important to remember that we have not figured it out. These are things which are plaguing us and these are our findings which we are sharing with an audience. There are no easy answers and we, for sure, don’t have them.

How do you ensure that the entertainment value is retained?

Whether my work needs to be entertaining, is not a concern. I just want to figure out the doorway to open the subject I need to tackle. If that doorway is engaging for me and for my actors, then the audience will be engaged and excited as well. 

Five years to the company now! What’s your hope for the future and how’s it been working with Puja?

Well, we just want to be able to make more work, no matter what happens. And I hope there are places and audiences who will receive our work. As for working with Puja, it’s been an incredible and fulfilling relationship. There was never a plan to form a company. We wanted to make a show and we managed to get dates from it at the NCPA, so we had to have an official theatre company. And because there has been this spontaneity and joy in coming together, the process has also been that. It’s been spontaneous and joyous. It’s been very hard because the nature of the work is hard. 

Patchworks Ensemble is Puja and myself but our journey has been made possible by all the incredible actors and technicians who have helped us do what we do.

Shikaar at Prithvi Theatre on August 16,17 and 18.