Visual Respiration’s Under Pressure, a theatre performance from Bengaluru, is travelling to Pune. Directed by Aruna Ram, the English-Hindi play to be staged at TIFA next weekend, examines climate change, consumerism, indigenous wisdom and the politics of nature. The play, which will be staged in an intimate theatre format with the audience sitting around the performers, makes use of physical theatre, movement, poetry and storytelling, creating a montage of moments and moods. The director tells us more.
What is the play Under Pressure about?
The play attempts to explore the problem of climate change and its repercussions on the environment. To do this, we divided the play into three main segments and each part tackles a different aspect. The first part focuses on nature — trees and how they have their own language and means of communication. It also dabbles into the nostalgia of having been far more in touch with nature than we are now.
The second part looks at humans today and their activities. Everything is a touch away and they are living life on chairs. There is an undeniable growth in consumption and what we fail to realise is that the more we consume, the more we discard. The third part deals with polymers and the monster of a problem plastic waste has become. We keep coming up with solutions that aren’t feasible or practical.
What went into selecting the theme?
It started about a year and a half ago while I was listening to a podcast by Amitabh Ghosh. He spoke about how the media covers all issues and news related to politics and sports, but somehow the pressing issue of climate change doesn’t make the cut. And that made me wonder when was the last time I directed a play that dealt with climate change and its consequences. That’s when I had a conscience kick.
I started reading and studying the topic and realised it’s an extremely layered and complex argument. That’s essentially when I decided to make a play that puts forth various perspectives and views.
Topics pertaining to consumerism, minimal living and the like are tough to approach in an impactful way. How did you and your team go about it?
The biggest question we asked ourselves before we started is what we want to do for our audience. We don’t just want to make them aware; the many news channels and websites can do that just as well. What we want to do is to try and create a way to trigger an environmental consciousness in people, by talking about simple things that make a difference and inspiring people to do it themselves. We use different methods of conveying our message. For instance, we took permission from Gulzar to use his poems in our play. Along with this, we incorporate a mix of narratives, gestures and other creative forms to best put forward our vision.
How do you keep the audience engaged?
What we realised from our shows in Bengaluru is that each person connects with the play in a different way. Poetry speaks to some and storytelling to the others. Similarly, each individual connects with the environment in a different way. Since such complex topics need to be spoken about in an intimate setting, we perform the play with the audience sitting around the performers in a circle.
Were there any challenges in putting together the show?
With topics like climate change and consumerism, dramatisation becomes difficult. How we portray different perspectives and perceptions of the theme is very important, but also challenging. Another difficulty is conflicted interests. How it differently aids and affects different groups of people and fields.
ST Reader Service
Watch Under Pressure, an English-Hindi play at TIFA Working Studios, 12A, Connaught Road, near Sadhu Vaswani Circle on June 21-22, between 7.30 and 9 pm. Tickets available on bookmyshow
