BENGALURU : ‘Jab we let go’ is a play that gives you a chance to share your stories and watch them being performed on spot. As the title suggests, the play is in the playback theatre format and is about certain incidents and moments in life, that one wants to let go of. The actors use their creativity to present a dramatized re-telling of the audiences’ stories. “The stories are from any experience that are shared by the audience. It could be as small as someone losing one’s mobile while travelling in a foreign land and being helped by a stranger, to being mistaken for a terrorist by the Indian army,” says Radhika Jain, director and artist of the session. Asked about the crowd’s reaction to such retelling of experiences and she says, “The audience have often expressed happiness about gaining a different perspective, and also sharing their stories with a larger community.”
Radhika has been performing playback theatre since seven years and believes it to be one of the more complicated forms of theatre and art formsitself. “Here, you’re no more a spectator but the source of the story itself,” she says. “This is a rare theatre performance that gives an opportunity for the audience to come together as a community and share their stories. The audience is the director and the actors
listen and improvises their stories, by adding their own touches to it,” says Radhika, adding that this
creates a space for people to connect with stories of others.
She prefers this style of play as she finds it more interactive in nature. She adds, “It’s is a great medium to engage with people and connect to their deepest emotions. It also helps people to switch off from their virtual screens and connect with other people. It takes a simple story from one’s life and brings it out on stage, in a powerful way. By letting the audience watch their own stories unfold it helps them get a new perspectives.”
According to Arpitha Ramakrishnan, one of the actors in the group, “Playback theatre has personally helped me a lot as a performer in connecting and interacting with audience,” she says Other team members include Bejoy Balagopal and Preetha Sridhar. The play will be performed on Sunday, July 8 at 6:30 pm, Lahe Lahe, Indiranagar, Bengaluru. Tickets costs `250 onwards and are available online.