Action replay

Ever since its inception in 1993, The Company Theatre, founded by actor Atul Kumar, has presented well-known plays such as The Blue Mug, Noises Off, Piya Behrupiya and Khwaab Sa. This year, as it celebrates its silver jubilee they are back with a new production called This is All There is When There is All This. Inspired by a short animation film, Tango, which won an Oscar in 1981, it’s a physical performance that is created with a large ensemble of bodies moving in an orchestrated chaos. Directed by Sujay Saple and Rachel D’Souza, it shows the various people on stage doing certain movements on loop, which not only establish their characters but also give viewers an idea about their back story.

Through bizarre yet familiar characters — like a man who trips over nothing, a bickering couple, twins stuck in a sneezing fit, and a girl who must measure distances to nowhere and an old man, the audience witnesses a wide range of experiences on stage such as death, love, loss and desire etc.

The piece, which premieres on March 6 at Prithvi Theatre, features 25 performers including Tushar Dalvi, Akash Srivastava, Shreya Chakraborty, Dhara Mehta, Janhavi Pawar, Nitya Mathur, Aakash Prabhakar, Radhika Chopra and Priti Shroff.

The process started earlier this year when Atul directed a piece called Loop 20 20, inspired by Tango, for Kala Ghoda Fest. Held at the Horniman Circle at Fort, it was a site-specific work, which continued for five hours. After that performance, Atul suggested Sujay and Rachel to develop it for theatre. The director duo realised the dynamics would change as now they had to conceive it in terms of a piece that would suit the stage. So, Sujay conducted a 20-day workshop with the artistes, followed by another one that was held by Atul. Interestingly, there is no narrative so the participants had to develop their own movements, which would give the audience an idea about their respective stories.

Rachel says, “We wanted to see what happens when we have so many people on stage creating actions on loop. What kind of a score do you get? Is it musical or visual? The piece is brimming with the energy of the youth as almost all participants, barring Atul, are in their 20s. They have created these scores which speak about themselves and their associations with the past. In a nutshell, This is All There is When There is All This is about content emerging from form.”

Some of the characters on stage include a young man, who is a diver, a writer and his muse and an old man. Rachel explains, “The diver symbolises ambition and how a sportsman needs to be driven to achieve his goal. Atul plays the old man and shows what happens to the body in terms of rhythm and pain with age.”

Atul, on his part, says, “This is All There is When There is All This explores an actor’s body. We are examining what happens to the purity of a gesture when it’s repeated over a period of time. This has been an emotionally and physically-draining experience. We have been conducting workshops with contemporary dancers and movement experts to improve our fitness levels. We’ve also been practising yoga and martial arts to keep our mind and body in peace. The concept of this performance is fairly new to me as I’m slightly old school but I’m extremely pleased with the result. The novelty is challenging.”

This is All There is When There is All This, premieres on March 6 at 9 pm at Prithvi Theatre. It will be staged till March 11 at 9 pm and at 6 pm too on Sat and Sun.