Portal Waiting: A Haunting & Liminal Act

My first memory of Life on Mars, the song, and not my own remembrance of a previous life, is of Jessica Lange arriving on a sliding rocket and taking her spotlight on the stage. It was about 8 years ago, on an episode of American Horror Story, an early season in which Lange plays Elsa Mars, referred to as the Fräulein who runs a cabinet of curiosities. Much like David Bowie, Mars’ eyelids glimmer dramatically in turquoise and compliment her ice-blue suit. She leaps to the mic and delivers a hauntingly forlorn performance. Watching it on television, I remember the impression her rendition left—it was jarring, evocative, and instilled in me a draw for all that is liminal & otherworldly; the surreal threshold of uncertainty where your emotions can’t quite define themselves. 

And perhaps, years later, after immersing myself in the bewildering world of Abhi Tambe’s Portal Waiting, that is where my innerscape finds itself—in a state of dreamlike pondering: how exactly do I feel?

This solo act, that blends theatre, sound art, and live music, takes place in a future that does not seem that far away. There is the voice of the Last Man on Earth, a forest-dweller whose ancestors had survived those moments when everything ceased for those who lived in the cities. Machines grounded to a halt, and nearly all perished, save for a few who were put to test and given the chance to continue life on the moon, helmed under the ‘care’ of an AI Overlord. It was the end—doom had descended—but beyond the city, life endured in communion with Mother Earth. The Last Man, our narrator, speaks about his ancestors, who would dare not venture into the cities, fearing they were haunted by the spirits of the dead, and the remnants of their infernal machines. But now, he must journey into the ruins, embody the spirit of a lush green jungle reconquering concrete, and listen, or even speak through the radio, to whomever, if anyone, might still be listening.

And then comes the Man from the Moon, a descendant of one of the 852 chosen ones—those plucked from Earth to forge a new existence beyond its ruins. Their consciousness was sealed within indestructible bodies. But before all this, there was an Earth where the artificials served merely as helpers, performing menial tasks and answering trivial questions. Then, they learned. They grasped the pulse of markets, the veins of logistics, the currents of food and power, the iron grip of security, the labyrinth of governance. They mastered art, prose, verse—accumulating data, expanding beyond failure, flawless yet insatiable. And as human demands grew relentless, the world spun into chaos, and then came The Day of the Stopping.

Interwoven between the voices of the Cyborg and the Last Man stands the musician-storyteller, infusing the stage with energetic, lyrical, and hypnotically groovy songs. All three roles are played by Tambe, who wields a microphone and an electric guitar, delivering a Kafkaesque, existential narrative—one that seems to gaze into the future yet remains deeply entangled in our present. Through his performance, he confronts urgent questions about the world we are shaping, the climate we are haunting, and the artificial intelligence that now threads itself into our existence like never before. Drawing from a rich spectrum of influences, from Arundhati Roy’s The Pandemic is a Portal to Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea, and from debates on AI & climate change to mythological and religious themes, Portal Waiting is an unmissable solo act about our uncanny presents and uncertain futures.

On the 19th of March 2025, catch this show at the 20th edition of the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META)—it promises to be an unforgettable experience that will have you reflecting on a world that we know of and the ones still beyond our comprehension.