As one thinks of theatre, the visuals can vary. For many, the term resonates more with cinema halls than performance arts. But in cities like Mumbai, weekends at auditoriums are as packed as a movie house. Over the years, Chennai’s theatre ecosystem has been steadily growing. But it is still striving to navigate through the economy and fast content. Independent theatre collectives in the city are now attempting to change the narrative by making live performances more accessible to a wider audience.
Returning for its third edition, KISS, an acronym for Keeping It Slightly Short, a theatre festival hosted by Poochus Productions, is underway at Alliance Française of Madras. The festival features close to 60 plays, spread across two weekends (May 8-10, and May 15-17), with one rule for each production: 15 minutes.
For festival director Dakshana and the team, the idea stemmed from the need to create a common space for the city’s growing theatre community. “We’ve been doing productions for a while now, working with people from various backgrounds, like students, homemakers, and a diverse range of people within the theatre community. We always wanted to create a space that puts the community together in one space. As we continued creating different kinds of shows, curating a festival felt like the natural next step for us,” says Dakshana.
Given the creative freedom by not fixing a central theme for the plays, resulted in an eclectic lineup ranging from comedies, social dramas, and bittersweet plays, to experimental movement theatre — a genre that prioritises the body, gesture, and movement over spoken dialogue. Dakshana adds that the festival has created room for both newcomers and the experienced equally.
Among them is Asha Sampath, a sexagenarian who returned to theatre after more than two decades with her play Life: Unlimited. “A friend forwarded the poster and I decided to write a script based on my experiences. It also brought back fond memories of writing scripts and staging performances 20-plus years ago. I wanted to give it a go again,” she says.
For Asha, the festival became more than just a performance opportunity. “The KISS festival gave me an opportunity to showcase not only a story close to my heart but also brought out the director in me, helping me discover another side of myself.” Her “greatest award” out of the festival is that her sons flew down to the city to watch and support her first production on this scale.
At the other end of the spectrum is 19-year-old Rajnish R, the youngest writer-director participating in the festival. For him, KISS represents a chance to experiment beyond conventional audience expectations. “Being part of theatre for the past two to three years, I realised that we are always stereotyped working around one group of audience and making our scripts according to their mindsets,” he says. “But suddenly, when I’m getting a new avenue of audience, I’m able to explore my content and explore new perspectives as a writer-director.”
Rajnish is staging two sharply contrasting productions: the comedy Operation Muthulakshmi and the darker Eyes Wide Shut, inspired by the Jeffrey Epstein case files but within an Indian context. Rajnish hopes audiences leave reflecting on themes of feminism, violence, and vulnerability.
KISS also presents awards under various titles with cash prizes for multiple participants, including People’s Choice. One of the new initiatives is that the jury this year are the participating writers-directions. Dakshana says that this will give the creators an opportunity to be accountable. For Rajnish, this judging system seems exciting “because only we as directors, writers or actors know the effort to take up a role until the show day before one month of it from being just a one-liner.”
Yet behind the performances lies the larger challenge of sustaining independent theatre in Chennai. Dakshana points out that venue costs and production logistics remain major hurdles for emerging groups. “Theatre here is surviving, but in Bombay it’s thriving. It’s difficult to even stage a play because the cost of halls are incomparable unless you have sponsors,” she says. Support from Alliance Française of Madras, she adds, has played a crucial role in helping the festival scale up over the years.
Amid the logistical chaos of 60 plays, shared green rooms, lighting cues, and rehearsals, the organisers hope the festival’s biggest success lies in building a culture of showing up for live art. Dakshana believes, “If they (audience) leave from here hoping to catch another live performance or another play at some point in time, I think that is a win.”
The second half of the KISS theatre festival will be held from May 15 to 17 at Alliance Française of Madras.Tickets available @ allevents.by/Poochus