Event Info
- Language: Hindi
- City / State: Delhi
- Directed By: Srinivas Beesetty
- Produced By: Kahe Vidushak Foundation Funded by Rangashankara's "Back to Theatre" program.
Namak
Namak revolves around a family of three women — a mother and two daughters — who are coping with the pandemic and its resulting shortcomings by telling each other stories and faking there is food on their plates. The play exposes how nationalism has been used to hide administrative incompetence and the price the poor have paid. It is about the way impoverished families have had to cope with the lack of dignity they have been subjected to in order to get minimum supplies of food.
ON STAGE
Mother: Avantika Gautam
Elder Daughter: Ankita Jain
Younger Daughter:
OFF STAGE
Geetanjali - Sound Design
Raag Urs - Light Design
Srinivas Revankar - Videography
Banshi Pagla - Production Manager
Abhishek Majumdar (original script in English, Salt) - Playwright
Srinivas Beesetty- Translated in hindi by
Srinivas Beesetty- Director
While the world was going gung-ho about lockdown cooking, Namak revealed the food crisis that wasn’t spoken or shown of. The storyline traces a strange combination of rice, salt and stories. Rather than blaming or demanding sympathy, the characters in Namak humbly accept the plight they were drawn into, for no fault of their own.
The challenge for me with these stories was to not get into the trap of translating their emotions to that of angst. The other challenge was to ensure the performance isn’t overshadowed by the verbosity, yet give due respect to the richness of the text. These challenges have pushed me to look further than the visible backdrop.