Actor Roshan Mathew gets candid about his play Bye Bye Bypass
For many, home is a place. For others, it is about people, memories, or simply a feeling of being. For actor-theatre practitioner Roshan Mathew, known for his versatile performances in Darlings, Moothon and Kankhajura, it can be all these and more. His new play Bye Bye Bypass, a collaboration with a group of artistes from the Malayalam film industry, sets out to explore this idea with vulnerability and passion.
“The idea of home changes over the course of life. When the permanence of a place you have called home is under threat, it brings up very different conversations. What does home mean to somebody? Is it a structure that you know that houses your family? Is it the people, memories, or something that’s not exactly as tangible as physically constructed space?” wonders Mathew, highlighting the basic notion the play attempts to put forward.
The play, which has run many shows across Kerala, will be staged in Malayalam with English subtitles (showcased on projectors) and follows four children (portrayed by actors Darshana Rajendran, Aswathy Manoharan, Sanjay Menon and Syamaprakash MS) who grow up in a house that is suddenly marked for demolition. Following this, what unfolds is an absurd yet moving story about permanence, loss and the fragile worlds we construct through children’s perspective.
Set in the backdrop of the ’90s era, the play is inspired by Mathew’s childhood. “The idea of losing a home is absurd for a child to deal with, especially when they suddenly discover it is going to be torn down for the construction of a new bypass road project. I also went through a similar experience as a child, and I carried it with me as I realised it’s an absurd thing to wrap my head around.”
With a wide range of actors, Mathew was keen on one thing while casting. “I wanted people who were connected with their inner child – who were willing to be vulnerable, carefree, light enough to be children – as the story travels through the perspective of these four kids played by adults,” he says.
A half physicist, quarter engineer, an actor, jumper and a storyteller, this isn’t his first stint in theatre. Mathew started in 2010 when he realised that he enjoyed the process of the acting craft. Later, he went on to do a course at the Drama School in Mumbai before moving to films. Although he is best known for his acclaimed work Paradise, Kuruthi and Poacher, theatre and directing Bye Bye Bypass marked a homecoming not just to the stage, but to the spirit of immersive storytelling. “In theatre, you have to make all of your decisions beforehand but at the same time you are constantly dealing with keeping the attention of the live audience unlike cinema where you have the convenience of a visual storytelling medium which can afford post production. But there is a thrill in figuring it out,” he says.
He also admits that as a director, he often didn’t have all the answers. “But that was also the beauty of it. I didn’t want to be the person who knew everything. I wanted to be part of a team where we all discovered things together.”
One of his strongest beliefs is that theatre, even when deeply personal, can strike a universal chord. Bye Bye Bypass was staged to audiences who spoke different languages, and yet the response has been deeply emotional, Mathew notes. “Even if the language is unfamiliar, the experience of childhood, of losing something you thought was permanent, is universal,” he says, adding, “No matter what, as long as you have experienced a sense of home at some point in life, there will be something in the play for everyone. And it’s designed to be entertaining even though it’s a heavy subject.”
(Bye Bye Bypass is being staged on Sept 13 at Prestige Centre for Performing Arts, Konanakunte Cross. For more details, visit bookmyshow.com)