The sum of their stories

Three directors come together to showcase their plays from different genres revolving around a particular theme — Post-Its

The fact that Turntable Productions’ latest venture, Post-Its, is a congregate of three different genres of plays by three directors does not strike as a novelty. It is not the first time a concept like this has been toyed with. But what sets this production apart is the fact that all the plays revolve around a common theme.

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“The three of us were asked by Turntable to do anything with post-its at its centre, so we devised scenes around our interpretation of the word. Our play deals with something that happens after an event has occurred,” says theatre artist Sukhesh Arora, one of the three directors and the founder of Yellowcat Theatre Company. Called Buffering, Sukhesh’s play represents post-its as musings in the present about things that have happened in the past, and employing the concept of physical theatre and improvisation rather than a fixed script or plot.

"We devise a play for the first time every time we are on stage," says actor Mohit Mukherjee. Free Parking Productions’ Arnav Nanduri, who has written and directed the play Rangaswami, the story of a female Telugu film action hero, says, "Rangaswami is related very loosely on post-its. One of the protagonist’s friends gives her a gift on her birthday with a post-it on it which leads to all the subsequent action."

“This play is about transformation and dealing with the self. I had nothing to communicate as far as post-its’ historical reference is concerned, but my play is about its definition at the moment. It focuses on the real and unreal, the internal and the external,” says NSD alumnus Shibani Puri, who is putting up Gabriel García Márquez’s The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World as a part of the show.

Ask Medha Bankhwal, one of the producers from Turntable, as to what led to this production, and she says, “We wanted to do something offbeat and experimental. We thought we will put together three different arrangements and we let the directors use their interpretation of post-its in their work.” Strangely, none of the participating directors have seen or discussed each others work even once. Let’s hope it is a surprise that leaves every one satiated.