BENGALURU: Action speaks louder than words. And this theatre group seems to have taken the adage quite literally as they get ready to debut their theatre company, Emoticon Theatre Company, the only mime theatre in the city. Their first, Samaya, is an experiment by theatre director Vinod Kumar S, who has been in the industry for over 12 years. “We want to promote pantomime and mime and bring it back on stage. Our first attempt is going to be in Bengaluru,” he says.
This attempt, Vinod hopes, will be an eye-opener for the city’s audience, who will get to experience and understand a new form. “There’s such a set pattern in the way people live their lives — wake up, get to work, come back. This has become the way of life especially since the corporate culture came to Bengaluru,” he says. This, he feels, has resulted in ego clashes, greed, competition and comparison. “We
have made man’s simple life so complicated. That’s why, through this play, I wanted to showcase the mechanical life that we have created for ourselves,” he adds.
The vague idea that Vinod came up with in November last year, was given structure over the months with the support of his team of actors. The final play, which the team has worked on for months, is an abstract one which combines biomechanics techniques, mime and music.
Creating a storyline on this theme, and doing justice to it, is what Vinod found challenging. “I was also wondering if people would show apprenshion since it’s a silent play. But I realised that not many people know what a silent play is, until they’ve watched one. Most people think they are boring and don’t bother attending them,” he says.But that’s what will make the play tick, believes Varun Maruchi, a 25-year-old actor in the performance.
“There are no language barriers, so it is much easier to connect with the audience,” says the actor, who has been into theatre for the last three years, and has rehearsed for nearly six months for this particular role. However, as an actor, a silent play can be discomforting. “Because it is silent, we need to convey everything without words. We need to be definite with our movements in order to portray what is really intended,” says Varun, who has performed in over 30 plays so far.The play will be performed at Kengal Hanumanthaih Kala Soudha, Hanumantha nagar, on May 20 at 6.30 pm.