One wouldn’t expect a satirical take on the society from 2Ps of a Cultural Mix by 14 Idlies (MOP Vaishnav College).
As the hour-long play opened to a partially packed auditorium, thrilled MOP students in the audience cheered for the actors, which sort of livened-up an otherwise dull auditorium.
During the first few minutes, the play showed some promise but it didn’t last long. The opening scene had two kurta-clad girls with foot-long sticks killing rats, which gave the idea of watching a family drama where the husband and wife are trying to tackle rat infestation in their house. But the story took an interesting turn as the brightly-dressed Pied Piper (Vidyulekha Raman) came down the spiral staircase from the mezzanine floor of the venue. She compared people with rats and said they were more interested in slices of cheese than anything else. The Pied Piper did a little song-dance which later took the shape of a musical explaining the problems of the society.
As the play progressed, the Pied Piper took a dig at the casual approach with which people handle serious environmental issues like the maintenance of our beaches. The actors enacted an everyday scene at the Marina Beach — a mother looks on while a child plays with a toy, a visitors argues with vendors and a laughing club where people discussed everything but the beach. The girls did not spare the media too, for its role in the ‘Save Our Beaches’ campaigns.
Although the idea seemed great, there did seem to be a lot of social messages. Sadly, the comic elements hardly made any impact while the props didn’t stand out in any way.
It’s unfair to nitpick too much from a college theatre group’s performance, and it should be said that the youngsters deserve credit for putting up a show on serious social issues.